Written for voice and piano, the piece was finished in 1906 or before, more than a decade earlier than the next surviving composition, Amériques.
Dedicated to Léon Claude Mercerot, it was published in 1906 by Benjamin Roudanez and later republished by Éditions Salabert in 1973.
Un grand sommeil noir is scored for an unspecified voice and piano, although it is usually sung by a soprano.
The score is marked Modérément lent ("moderately slowly") and, aside from other expression indications, it presents no tempo changes.
[4] Just like the original poem which expresses ideas of despair, solitude and the longing for release, the piece is itself somber and melancholic.