The waltzes were written while the composer lived in Vienna, a city where he would permanently settle in 1872.

Waltz Number 15 in A major (or A♭) has acquired a life of its own, as likely the most popular piece in the collection.

For each waltz, the first half moves to the dominant, the relative major, or a substitute key.

Then, the second half begins with a developmental passage that leads back to the main theme and the tonic.

[2] In 1984, critic Edward Rothstein said that Joseph Smith "made a compelling case for taking them seriously as a unified cycle.