This work, based on Bizet's own adaptation of Louis Delatre's version of an episode from Camoen's Lusiad, is an "ode symphony," a cross between the oratorio and the symphony, largely popularized by Felicien David's Le Desert. He wrote it during his time in Rome as a Prix de Rome winner, and when he submitted it to the Académie, Halévy praised it for as having strong harmonic effects and vivid orchestration (though compared to mature Bizet it is still unemphatic). Set at sea during da Gama's voyages, some of its more successful moments include his depiction of the movement of the ship and some of the more dramatic moments, such as Admastor's warning and the sighting of land. Bizet also found a chance to include an exotic touch in Leonard's bolero-like song, which is occasionally excerpted. Earlier in the same year, he had at least contemplated another ode symphony, Ulysse et Circe; if he wrote any of it, it has disappeared.

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