Busoni wrote his Berceuse élégiaque for orchestra (1909) as a memorial to his mother, who died in May of that year. The work, subtitled "Des Mannes Wiegenlied am Sarge seiner Mutter" (The Man's Cradle Song at His Mother's Coffin), also carries the inscription "The child's cradle rocks, the hazard of his fate reels; life's path fades, fades away into the eternal distance."

In the Berceuse, Busoni makes one of his first ventures into the realm of atonality, exhibiting a highly original style that is all the more moving and impressive for its resolutely quiet nature. The orchestration is delicate, exploiting the possibilities of tone color in a manner similar to that in Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, written in the same year, but not performed until 1912.

The Berceuse élégiaque was premiered in New York City on February 21, 1911 in a concert conducted by the ailing Gustav Mahler. The occasion was, as it turns out, the great composer/conductor's final public appearance.

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