The Three Preludes for piano were the last complete pieces that Charles Griffes ever wrote. Written in 1919, the last year of his life, the pieces are an example of the experimental direction in which Griffes' music was going. They are absolute pieces and do not describe any scene or feeling. As such, Griffes did not name them or attach texts or poems to them as he had done with so many of his other earlier works. It was not that he didn't have time (he died in early 1920), but because the abstract pieces were typical of what he was writing at the moment and did not require a descriptive title. The piano sonata that Griffes had finished in 1918 was a fine example of this movement towards absolutism and atonality. The preludes that followed were written within this realm of musical definition. The title, the Three Preludes, was not specified by Griffes, but was given to the works when they were finally published in 1967.

The preludes acknowledged Griffes as a miniaturist, as none of the pieces are longer than 32 measures. The first two preludes contain 32 measures and the third, only 24. None of the three pieces show a key signature on the manuscript, so it is uncertain in which key Griffes actually intended them to be. Originally, it is thought that Griffes wanted to compose five pieces for this set; however, only three of them were completed before his death.

Griffes uses few block chords in these quiet, linear pieces instead applying chordal, contrapuntal melodic lines throughout. The first prelude seems to start in the center of itself, as if in the middle of a phrase. There is an ostinato bass, and a slightly foreboding melody. Prelude No. 2 is composed of broken chords high on the keyboard, and then adds a melodic bass line. The piece has an ethereal quality that Griffes employed in many of his compositions. The third prelude, played pianissimo, nowhere consists of a melody played over a chordal accompaniment. All is played in the higher notes, is linear, and consists of contrapuntal lines in both hands. The Three Preludes resemble each other in nature of composition: All are delicate, otherworldly, atonal, abstract, absolute, miniature, and beautiful. Griffes had finally found his individual voice.

It is unknown exactly in which direction Griffes would have gone with his music had he lived longer; but it is certain that he was developing his own style of Modernism, created and formed by his past influences and interests in different types of music, starting with German Romanticism, leading to Impressionism, Oriental music, Native American music, and always leaning more and more towards atonality.

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