The album traces the progress of the modern relationship through Mitchell's orchestral renditions of classic jazz songs.

In the liner notes, co-producer Larry Klein describes the album as "a programmatic suite documenting a relationship from initial flirtation through optimistic consummation, metamorphosing into disillusionment, ironic despair, and finally resolving in the philosophical overview of acceptance and the probability of the cycle repeating itself".

A limited run of copies was released on February 8, 2000, in chocolate box packaging for Valentine's Day with several lithographs of Mitchell paintings.

On tour, Mitchell performed the songs in the same sequence as the album, but she opened with the overture "Nuages", the first movement from Nocturnes, an orchestral suite composed by Claude Debussy.

Clouds is the name of the album on which the song "Both Sides Now" made its appearance.