[1][2] José Rufino Reyes y Siancas was born in Santo Dominigo, Dominican Republic, on November 15, 1836.

The following year on August 7th, he premiered the composition in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the restoration of the Republic with lyrics written by Prud'Homme, during a ceremony held at the Lodge La Esperanza.

The composition was then again performed on February 27, 1884, in honor of Juan Pablo Duarte in the theater of the Republic during the occasion of the arrival of Duarte's remains in the country, which were deposited in the Chapel of the Immortals.Today his face is on the 2,000 Dominican peso bill next to Emilio Prud'Homme In 1885, the composition received its greatest public praise when it was performed by the military band teacher Betances, in the Cathedral Square and its popularity then increased on the fiftieth anniversary of the Republic.

On 7 June 1897, the Congress of the Dominican Republic passed an act adopting "Himno Nacional" with the original music and revised lyrics as the country's official national anthem; however, then-President Ulises Heureaux (1846–1899) vetoed the act because the lyric's author, Prud'homme, was an opponent of the president and his administration.

Eventually on May 3, 1934, due to a message sent to Congress by the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, a law was passed which established Reyes' composition as the official anthem of the Dominican Republic.