Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, into a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines (his great-grandmother was Lydia E. Pinkham), he studied organ performance and music theory at Phillips Academy with Carl F. Pfatteicher.

[full citation needed] At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston; Aaron Copland, Archibald T. Davison, and Arthur Tillman Merritt were also among his teachers.

In 1951, Pinkham conducted ten works by Boulanger Award winners in their Boston performance première in a special Peabody Mason Concert series commemorating the Paris Bi-Millennial year.

For forty-two years (1958–2000),[2] Pinkham was the organist of King's Chapel in Boston, a position which gave him much exposure to and opportunity to write church-related music; the Sunday evening concert series he created there celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007.

He produced work in virtually every genre, from symphonies to art songs, though the preponderance of his music is religious in nature, frequently choral and/or involving organ.

In keeping with the name of the ensemble, the work was designed to be performed for families at the Boston Public Garden, near the famous sculptures based on Robert McCloskey's endearing picture book.