The work was completed in time for New York's 400th anniversary observance of Henry Hudson's voyage up the river that now bears his name, but was underway as early as 2004.

Originally intended to be a live performance piece (circa 2006),[2][3][4] this "audacious plan" (New York Times) to compose music for a suspension bridge using the bridge itself as the instrument brought Bertolozzi wide local and international attention.

[5][6] When funding fell through for a live performance, Bertolozzi took the audio samples he had used to compose his works for the bridge,[7] and used them to put together a studio album.

In 2016, a documentary film by Andrew Porter[10][11] captured "Bridge Music" and its back-story.

[12] Bertolozzi later began working on creating a similar project to have a group of live percussionists play the Eiffel Tower.