[2] The work is an example of formula composition, with a basic motif first being presented and then varied in two contrasting, cyclical layers; interrupted by cadenzas.

The first public performance, also of the flute version, was given by Lucille Goeres on 6 August 1977, in a concert by course participants of the Centre Sirius at the Aix Conservatory.

[4] The premiere of the version for clarinet was given by Suzanne Stephens on 30 November 1978 as part of a concert Hommage à Olivier Messiaen, in the Salle Wagram, Paris, and the version for oboe was premiered by Heinz Holliger on 6 July 1979 in a concert themed Music of the 20th Century in the large hall of the broadcaster Saarländischer Rundfunk in Saarbrücken.

Walker had a costume made, and gave the premiere in the Wigmore Hall in London on 10 May 1982 under the title "In Freundschaft, for a teddy bear with bassoon".

Around the same time, John Sampen requested and performed a version for soprano saxophone, though Stockhausen made further adjustments the next year with the saxophonist Hugo Read.

[6] Even a version for alto recorder came into existence, at the instigation of Geesche Geddert, first in an exchange of letters, then in rehearsal with Stockhausen on 6 April 1984.

[11][12] This formula is then presented in two registrally separated and permuted alternating statements, similar to the arrangement in Stockhausen’s Mantra, so that the work may be said to be monothematic.

[13] Initially, the separation of the two layers is emphasized through the dynamics: the higher level is consistently pp, the lower one ff.

In an obituary by the CBC summarised in 2007: In the 1970s, he took up "formula composition" and created a simple style that became a model for a new generation of German composers.