It was sponsored by the Société musicale indépendante, to promote the works of more adventurous composers, without "burdening" critics with the attached labels of authorship.

[2][3] When the votes were tallied, the nominated composers included Erik Satie, Charles Koechlin, Vincent d'Indy and even Zoltán Kodály, but "a minute majority," Ravel recalled, "ascribed the paternity of the Valses to me."

The rest of the concert included works by Antoine Mariotte, Léo Sachs, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Henri Büsser, Édouard Mignan, Hector Fraggi, Lucien Wurmser and François Couperin.

This work indicated that the composer wanted to create a "clearer" orchestral sound than had been the case for the preceding Ma mère l'Oye.

The orchestrated ballet version of the Valses nobles et sentimentales was named Adélaïde, ou le langage des fleurs (Adelaide: The Language of Flowers).