Chausson would write another major work in the same genre, the Chanson perpétuelle, in 1898.
The Poème consists of two parts separated by an orchestral interlude, based on the poems La Fleur des eaux (The Flower of the Waters) and La Mort de l'amour (The Death of Love) by Chausson's friend Maurice Bouchor (1855–1929).
One such song was Le Temps des lilas (The Time of Lilacs), the last four verses of which Chausson transcribed and incorporated into the ending of the second part of the Poème.
At the premiere on February 21, 1893, in Brussels, Chausson himself played the piano to accompany the tenor Désiré Demest.
The orchestral version was first performed on April 8 the same year by the soprano Éléonore Blanc and the Orchestre de la Société Nationale de Musique, conducted by Gabriel Marie.