Réveil des oiseaux (Awakening of the Birds) for piano and orchestra, along with Catalogue des oiseaux (Catalogue of the Birds) and Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic Birds), exemplifies Messiaen's fascination with birdsong. Réveil des oiseaux was the first of this threesome, and represented a major stylistic shift for the composer. For Messiaen, birdsong was a way to return to nature, to enliven his musical language and restore to it a freedom that he felt it had lacked. The piece contains no Eastern rhythmic patterns or meters, and none of Messiaen¹s famous "modes of limited transposition"; instead, there is a return to what Malcolm Trout describes as a "world of pure chromaticisim."

The work contains the songs of no fewer than thirty-eight species of birds. The texture of the work is mostly polyphonic, and occasionally monodic, abandoning the dense and colorful harmonies of Messiaen's earlier works in favor of parallel octaves and chords. Typical of Messiaen, however, is the pervasive repetition in the piece, inspired by the nature of birdsong. The melodic complexity of the piece, arising though the combination and juxtaposition of diverse birdcalls, is checked by the use of pitch centers, which assist in orienting the ear.

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