Impressed by a one-movement wind serenade by the teenaged Richard Strauss, conductor Hans von Bülow asked the budding composer to write a larger-scale work for the same combination of 13 instruments (double woodwinds, four horns, contrabassoon) to be played by Bülow's famed Meiningen Orchestra. What Strauss did not initially realize was that Bülow wanted a suite employing Baroque forms—which accounts for a gavotte and fugue being appended to two more Romantic movements—and that Strauss, who had never before wielded a baton, would conduct the premiere without rehearsal. Bülow thus played a major role in launching Strauss' dual career as a composer and conductor. The Suite in B flat begins with a "Praeludium," marked Allegretto. The music rises up from the very bottom of the ensemble in a series of confident gestures that hint at Strauss' later, more heroic style. This theme, however, remains free of bombast and benefits from the young composer's light touch. Contrasting material includes, most prominently, a brief lyrical theme. The "Praeludium" has been called a sonata-form movement without development, which is not really true; Strauss does toy with his musical elements before moving into the recapitulation. The "Romanze" (Andante) includes short, lyrical, soaring solos for clarinet, oboe, and flute, looking ahead to the manner of Strauss' late wind concertos. Melodies unroll over sonorous horn chords and undulating woodwind figures, but wander at such length that the music can lose a sense of shape. The mischievous "Gavotte" (Allegro) features quick, burbling tunes and sudden contrasts in its outer sections; at the center is a more sinuous melody over a bagpipe-like drone, interrupted repeatedly by rhythmic interjections derived from the opening material. The final movement consists of an introduction (Andante cantabile) that initially calls to mind Siegfried's Funeral March, before assuming a more undulating, Italianate character and then returning to its Wagnerian inclinations. This builds up into a fugue (Allegro con brio) based on an angular theme; it's diligently structured but without particular imagination or enthusiasm until the bright, show-stopping coda.

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