In June 1904, 35-year-old Scott Joplin married Freddie Alexander, the person to whom he dedicated The Chrysanthemum, and the person who apparently was the work's inspiration. The composer prefaced her name in the score's dedication with "Miss," thus dating the piece to the winter or spring 1904. Unfortunately, the marriage was not long-lived: Alexander died of pneumonia in September that same year. But if this work encompassed her spirit, then she lives on in lively, colorful music, whose sprightly rhythms and catchy themes are quite memorable.

After a brief introduction, the jaunty main theme is presented, a typically Joplin-esque rag creation, lively but unhurried, structurally well conceived in its symmetrical features, but a little mischievous in its spirited joy and seemingly flippant manner. The theme merrily descends in its first phrase, then playfully skips back upward, only to repeat the process, but with subtle changes that lead to a frolicsome close. Secondary material carries on in the same lively fashion, the music seeming to sashay, to play, to bounce, coming across as anything but a chrysanthemum, though the variety and inspiration here certainly convey that beautiful flower's bright colors.

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