Finding support among like artists was extremely important to the development and projection of Maurice Ravel. Early stumbles, such as failing to win prizes and dismissal from classes at the Conservatory, could have discouraged the young composer, but he instead accellerated his growth by expanding his contacts. One of the first circles he became involved with was Les Apaches, which was made up of literary, musical, and artistic contemporaries such as Calvocoressi, de Falla, Sordes, and Stravinsky. At the time, Ravel was regarded as an outsider to the Schola Cantorum faction, which dominated the Société Nationale. Defending himself to accusations of imitating Debussy became an ongoing necessity for Ravel. One of the forms of defense which Ravel took was gaining alliance with those of like mind. In 1909, he helped found Société Musicale Indépendente, a society open to performing French and foreign works regardless of genre or style, obviously important to the artist of Basque heritage, who had an interest in the exotic. Ravel's apparent need for support against criticism explains his gratitude for the backing he received from Mme. René Dubost, which he showed through the collaboration on L'Eventail de Jeanne (composed in her honor). The act of collaborating was not one of Ravel's common activities (even though he did succeed in orchestrating Musorgsky's Khovanshchina with Stravinsky in 1913). However, shortly before his highly successful four-month North American tour, Ravel collaborated with several other leading French composers to create the composite ballet L'Eventail de Jeanne (Jeanne's Fan, as in a fan on which a woman would gather epigrams and autographs) as a gift to Mme. Renè Dubost (Jeanne Dubost) in 1927. Dubost, who had a reputation for favoring foreign artists, used her salon to organize musical evenings in honor of foreign artists and thus it became a unique gathering place for what Darius Milhaud described as "musicians, artists, and left-wing politicians." The dances were written out of gratitude for Dubost's contributions to the arts and were privately performed at her home by pupils of the Paris Opéra on June 16, 1927. Marie Laurencin, one of Dubost's friends, contributed plumed headdresses and organdie costumes for the lively performance. An actual production at the Opéra was staged on May 23, 1929, and since then it has been basically forgotten; Ravel's Fanfare is one dances still revived. The order of the ten dances of L'Eventail de Jeanne was as follows—Ravel: Fanfare; Ferroud: Marche; Ibert: Valse; Roland-Manuel: Canaire; Delannoy: Bourrée; Roussel: Sarabande; Milhaud: Polka; Poulenc: Pastourelle; Auric: Rondeau; Schmitt: Kermesse-Valse.

Among the collaborators on the ballet was one of Ravel's few students, Alexis Roland-Manuel. In a full-length biography, which contained notes and sketches by Ravel, Roland-Manuel was able to promote Ravel's ideas and music, stimulating a deeper search to understand his genius. Looking back over the conflicts and criticism of Ravel's career makes it easy to understand the value which artistic circles played in his recognition as an original musician.

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