[4] In the interval between the composition of the original Habanera and the completion of the four-movement Rapsodie, Claude Debussy had published a piano suite, Estampes (1903), of which the middle section, "Soirée dans Grenade", had a Spanish theme.

Dissenting voices were Pierre Lalo, who habitually disliked Ravel's music, and Gaston Carraud, who called the score "slender, inconsistent and fugitive".

Henry Wood gave the British premiere in October 1909 to a capacity audience at the Proms,[7] and the following month the work was first given in New York.

[8] The work is scored for an orchestra of 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 soprano clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, sarrusophone (modern performances typically use a contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, castanets, tambourine, gong, snare drum, xylophone, celesta, 2 harps and strings.

[9] The movement, in 24 and switching between F♯ major and minor, is marked assez lent et d'un rythme las ("rather slow and with a drowsy rhythm").

The boisterous carnival atmosphere has undertones of nostalgia, but exuberance triumphs and the work ends in a joyful burst of orchestral colour.