It started out as a piece for cello and piano, written in collaboration between Mompou and the cellist Gaspar Cassadó.
[1] Kenneth MacMillan's ballet La Casa de los Pájaros (The House of Birds), set to orchestrations by John Lanchbery of various piano pieces by Mompou, had been premiered at Sadler's Wells in London in 1955, and was also staged at the 4th Festival de Música y Danza at Granada.
Mompou was then asked by The Royal Ballet, London[2] to write another ballet in the hope of emulating the success of La Casa de los Pájaros.
[3] The variations were premiered by the Catalan pianist Albert Attenelle in 1964 after working with the composer.
An orchestration was completed, but this was largely the work of the conductor Antoni Ros-Marbà.