Ravel began the composition in December 1914 in response to the outbreak of World War I, in which he hoped to be enlisted to fight for France.

Ravel composed the Trois Chansons in response to World War I,[1][2] beginning the work in December 1914, when he was in Paris waiting to be drafted.

In November, he took daily driving lessons, aiming to join a supply department, and passed the test in December.

[5][8] He dedicated the three songs to three people who might help him with the enlisting, "Nicolette" to Tristan Klingsor, who was connected to the military,[5] "Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis" to Paul Painlevé, a mathematician and socialist politician who was to become minister of war in 1917,[4] and "Ronde" to Sophie Clemenceau, née Szepz, the wife of Paul Clemenceau.

[4] The Chansons were published by Éditions Durand in 1916, and were premiered on 11 October 1917, performed by a choral ensemble assembled by Jane Bathori, conducted by Louis Aubert, at Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier.

[5] In "Nicolette", a young girl picking flowers on a meadow escapes a wolf and a page, but loses her innocence to an older gentleman offering silver.

[13][19] The text is full of word-play in the tradition of 16th-century chansons,[5] and has been described as "a virtuosic display of tongue-twisting verbal dexterity",[2] and compared to that of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.

[2] "In his display of erudite demonic science, Ravel has mixed all traditions: ancient, medieval and even oriental"[20] and the polyphony is becoming more and more virtuosic.

[21] Later, Henri Collet wrote, "on these three dissimilar songs, Maurice Ravel composed an adorable musical triptych in which he shows himself the progressive continuator of Janequin and Costeley.

"Nicolette" is the first time "allegro moderato"; the "Three beautiful birds of Paradise" constitute the moving andante, and the Ronde forms a dazzling finale of verve.