This brilliant ballet was commissioned by the Indianapolis-born American choreographer and dancer Ruth Page for the Chicago Opera Ballet. This American connection explains the dual-language title of the score. Ruth Page's libretto used the legend that the unicorn, widely sought after for its beauty and magical powers, can only be tamed by a virgin. After several hunters of various sorts fail to capture him, he is subdued by the Goddess of Chastity in the form of a little girl.

Ibert wrote the ballet for a small orchestra with the colorful addition of a saxophone and several percussion instruments. The music is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although there is a dark edge in the sardonic style that Ibert had evolved by the post-war era, replacing the picturesque (Escales) and sprightly (Divertissement) music that brought him to popularity before the war. The score comprises a dozen dance episodes in various style, alluding to several twentieth century composers. One section in particular, sounding like one of Milhaud's Brazilian evocations, is said to be a tribute to Ibert's own South American grandmother. The ballet was premiered in 1954, but not published until 1974, a dozen years after the composer's death. As an orchestral piece, it makes a satisfying dance suite with no need for omissions of anything but a repeated waltz section.

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