It was composed four years after the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, which he wrote upon his arrival in Paris after his stay in Switzerland.
These two compositions are from Stravinsky's neoclassical period, and represent a departure from the composer's previous Russian style, in which he produced works such as The Rite of Spring.
He kept the performance rights to himself for a number of years, wanting the engagements for playing this work for himself, as well as urgently desiring to keep "incompetent or Romantic hands" from "interpreting" the piece before undiscriminating audiences.
[3] In 1925 Stravinsky recorded the first movement of this work in New York, for the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art reproducing piano, on roll no.
Jakob Gimpel was the soloist in the other movements, and Harold Schonberg reviewed the concert in the New York Times for 12 June 1962, on page 39.