The story of Alcidiane and Polexandre comes from a novel by Gomberville of the genre , which was popular throughout the seventeenth century. Alcidiane is the Princess of the "aisle Inaccessible", and Polexandre must search through many lands and fight many battles to find her. Lully wrote all of the instrumental music for this ballet, but shared the composition of some of the vocal numbers with Jean Boesset. In 1658, Lully still had not become completely dominant of the court's musical activities.

The , or ballet of the court, was already an old tradition of the French monarchy, and had derived from the . In the reign of the Valois kings, the court had been poor, and all productions were paid for by patrons in honor of court festivities. By the time Louis XIV had acceded to the throne of France, the French court was quite rich, and the Ballet belonged to the upper echelons of society.

The Ballet d'Alcidiane was composed for a specific occasion; it was to be the spectacle at the carnival. It was performed in front of the entire court, including Cardinal Mazarin, and Louis XIV took part in some of the , as did Lully. Louis played the role of Hate in the opening scene, and Lully played guitar dressed as a Moor.

At this juncture in French politics, there was a raging debate over the merits of Italian versus French music. Lully could write in both styles, and was originally a Florentine, so was seen as a representative of Italian music at the court. Cardinal Mazarin was the biggest proponent of Italian music and opera, and was very influential. Lully could not champion French music until after Mazarin's death, such was the Cardinal's power.

In this ballet Lully composed a debate, or argument between French and Italian styles. He uses this rhetorical device to particular effect in the sixth entree, in which he composed a musical tableau of a battle. The two protagonists are given battle music in French and Italian styles, with the French dominating. The French musketeers and Italian combatants each have their own pieces.

Most of the entrees of part two feature all the characters that Polexandre must defeat in battle; corsairs, dwarfs, giants, chevaliers, demons. And part three is dominated by the extended festivities in honor of all his victories. Lully closes the ballet with a sumptuous to which everyone dances. His music throughout this scene is particularly delightful. He creates an iridescent texture by pitting his basses against his violins, by adding ornaments and trills to the upper voices, and by a brilliant use of oboes, flutes, and trumpets, that often double the violins to alter the timbre.

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