Recorded by Paul Whiteman & his Orchestra, it became one of the biggest hits of 1926, topping the charts for 11 weeks beginning March 30, 1926.
[3] Other popular recordings in 1926 were by Ben Selvin & His Orchestra (vocals by Irving Kaufman), The Revelers, Ross Gorman, and Jesse Crawford.
[4] That year Carlos Gardel recorded "Valencia" with different lyrics, as Maestro Padilla frequently worked in Buenos Aires.
In the plot the song stands for the lightheartedness of the high society, that somehow violates the wild space of a lonely island, where the main character is literally "struggling for survival".
The saxophonist Pablo in Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf mentions this song as an example of melodies quietly reproduced every night by dreamy people.