Though his friend, Thomas Gounet, lost the lilt of Thomas Moore's verse ("Rich and rare were the gems she wore") in his French translation, Berlioz recaptured it in a teasing, barcarolle-like melody conjuring a pristine Ireland where richly adorned beauty might wander unmolested. This seemingly straightforward strophic song contains several subtleties—a varied accompaniment for each stanza, each of which begins a tone lower, and a deft contrapuntal touch with the final "La la lalerala." Composed in 1829, it is contemporary with Berlioz's struggle for the Prix de Rome and the composition of the Symphonie fantastique. Published for tenor and piano in 1830 as one of the Neuf mélodies irlandaises (republished as Irlande), La belle voyageuse was arranged by Berlioz, in 1834, for two tenors, two basses, and piano (a version now lost). In 1842, Berlioz arranged it for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, and, in 1851, for a chorus of sopranos and altos with orchestra, clearly showing his high esteem for this early work and its enduring charm.

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