[1] It was created in 1940 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to a score of music by Johann Sebastian Bach orchestrated by William Walton.
One of the pieces was "Sheep may safely graze" which comes from a secular cantata about hunting, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208.
Ashton, wanting to use this music and believing it to be a religious subject, chose the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from Matthew 25.
Ashton was also inspired by 18th century sculpture and architecture, and tried to depict with the dancers' bodies "the swirling, rich, elaborate contortions of the baroque.
The scoring is for 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.