Released in six formats featuring a photograph by JFKK, A Ballads received favorable reviews from music critics.

The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.

[1] During its promotion, Avex Trax and Hamasaki received over 100,000 messages from fans, telling them their opinions about the unfinished demo.

Due to the mixed response of her fanbase, Hamasaki decided to develop the song further and release it as part of an upcoming compilation album, which was later named A Ballads.

[5] The first song, "Rainbow", was originally composed by CMJK, but Hamasaki felt the finishing product was "missing something", and re-worked the demo version with Japanese musician Dai Nagao.

According to Hamasaki, she had asked the group to re-compose their original version of the track in order to reflect "current [musical] themes of 2003.

[3] "Hanabi" was one of the album's only tracks to appear in its original version, and has been described by a CD Journal staff member to have been inspired by Europop, trip hop, and dub music.

[7] "Dolls", a J-pop influenced pop ballad, remained the sophomore original track to make part of the record.

The final original track, "Voyage", was described by CD Journal as a midtempo ballad influenced by gospel music, layered with several string arrangements and other instrumentation.

[3] The digital release featured the slipcase cover and the entire photo shoot was photographed by JFKK.

Tetsuo Hiraga from Hot Express believed that the album's material was able to connect with both younger and older audiences.

[15] The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.

[6] An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Wataru Takeishi, featuring two clones of Hamasaki chasing each other, and eventually meeting at a dinner in Japan.