This one-act opera with ballets sets a libretto by Charles Collé, and premiered on October 30, 1753, in a court performance at Fontainebleau. Unfortunately, the work has never been published and exists only in manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale's Bibliothèque-Musée de l'opéra in Paris.

Although designated by its composer as a pastorale-héroique, a genre that generally consists of three acts, and whose sentimental plot generally revolves around the loves of gods and goddesses (usually in disguise), and shepherds and shepherdesses, it is cast in only a single act. It was the first stage work Rameau had composed since the outbreak of the famous Querelle des Bouffons, the polemical dispute between the adherents of French classical opera and those of Italian opera buffa. Its influence is detectable in the overture, for which Rameau abandoned his original idea in favor of a more racy, Italianate opening.

The overture opens with a lively theme on D major arpeggios; a brief, slow second movement of great nobility; and a third movement containing two minuets. The curtain goes up on a scene in front of the main entrance of the Temple of Friendship. Daphnis and Eglé are innocents who consider themselves friends and are surprised to find themselves barred from entering.

There are various ballets figurés throughout which embellish and extend the meaning of the action. The excellent symphonies for these dances are pastoral in nature, and include a sarabande très tendré, an infiniment triste, and a strange, long gavotte that has passages underscored by a droning pedal point and the odd dissonant clashes of sighing figures.

Cupid himself appears and reveals to the couple the essence of the true loving feeling between them. The Temple of Friendship is then physically and mystically transformed into the Temple of Love and the couple are invited in. "Love's attendants lead, dancing, the shepherds in the different parts of the Temple and invite them to pay homage to Love" to complex, lyrically floating pastoral music that polyphonically and melodically constantly contrasts duple and triple meter. An elaborate "pantomime" for two shepherdesses occurs: they enter separately, embrace, and then dance with two shepherds "whom they approach suspiciously." All of this metaphorically reflects the theme of the nature of friendship contrasted with, or turning into, love. Daphnis also delivers the aria "Bergére, comme vous j'ignore quel est le trouble qui nous suit" in this scene, adding further depth of meaning to this argument. Another noteworthy vocal is Daphnis' fine ariette "Oiseaux, chantez" (Birds, sing), close in style to the late rococo of Louis XVI. The chorus is used as a "dramatis persona" in scene 3, another of Rameau's innovations.

There is a lively minuet in E minor, followed by the second of the "tambourins" with a return to the energetic, non-pastoral feeling of the overture, and featuring virtuoso passages for the bassoon, while the violins create heavenly tensions through non-harmonic suspensions. The final contredanse features a thrilling running figure moto perpetuo.

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