Apparently unfinished at the composer's death, Vox Maris was begun in 1929 and a substantially complete draft was available in the early 1930s. Part of the reason for its long gestation period may have been Enescu's experience with the public reception his innovations received, as in the hostile reception of his Symphonie Concertante in 1909. Since Vox Maris calls for wind and thunder machines as part of the orchestral makeup, perhaps he decided the public was not yet trendy enough to appreciate his intent. Whatever the case, it is an ethereal and sometimes powerful seascape, which owes its harmonic language to the Third Symphony and the storm scene in Oedipe.

This is the only major non-chamber work completed after Oedipe and as such became something of a cause célèbre for Enescu's supporters after his death. Accordingly, when it was found that the supposedly incomplete score lacked only some clarification of dynamics and tempi, a performing edition was produced and the work received its première in Bucharest in 1964, to instant acclaim.

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