Having been added to, subtracted from, rearranged, and revised many times, this opera with dances is a kind of modular stage work consisting of a (sometimes omitted) prologue with two, three, or four "entrées." The first version was premiered at the Théâtre des Petits-Cabinets à Versailles on November 27, 1748, with a text (consequently often revised) by Pierre-Joseph Gentil-Bernard and consisting of the prologue "Le Retour d'Astrée" and two entrées "La lyre enchantée" and "Adonis." Two other entrées, "Les sibarites" and "Anacréon," were added around 1753.

Within each entrée, a wide variety of dances are interspersed between the various arias, duets, and trios, and choral pieces for muses, nymphs, and/or sylvains. There are minuets, gigues, passepieds, gavottes, sarabands, rondeaux, a ballet général, and a Loure pour Terpsichore.

The general style is elegant, mythological, and formal with exchanges such as the following between Urania and the student Linus in "La lyre enchantée":

Linus: "I listen to the birds that sing in the wood, I accompany their songs, imitate their patterns, and to understand their nature instruct my voice to speak their language."

Urania: "Let us take a glorious flight; contemplate the heavens, the earth and the waves with me, measure from the air the fertile quarry of the most brilliant of all the gods."

L'Amour (Cupid) and his fellows resolve in surprising ways the various conflicts which are the theme of each entrée: "Le retour d'Astrée" and "Les sibarites" concern the conflict between states of peace and aggression; "La lyre enchantée" concerns love and indifference; "Adonis" love and chastity; and "Anacréon" the conflict between lovers and wine drinkers, including a thrilling "Combat entre les Bacchantes, Lycoris et les Esclaves d'Anacréon" with wildly churning instrumentation.

"Anacréon" also includes many other splendid effects like the scene "Sommeil lent" (Slow Dream) for flute, two violins, and bass continuo (harpsichord, cello, and bass), which moves chromatically in mostly diminished and minor sixth chords, concluding with a "pluie" (rain) imitation with a sustained high flute note, pizzicato on the violins, and simple bass roots. This is immediately followed by a shocking "Orage" (Thunderstorm) with fast runs and arpeggios, and bass accents in the violas, bassoons, and continuo. Another "Anacréon" highlight is the beautifully written bass aria "Nouvelle Hébé, charmante Lycoris" with its instrumental imitation canon arising from the vocal part and surrounding the voice with glorious contrapuntal melisma and parallel harmonies in Mozartean thirds.

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