Certainly the most popular Viennese waltz written after the heyday of Johann Strauss II, the waltz extracted from Lehár's Die lustige Witwe owes its appeal not only to a melody that sways as gracefully as the rhythm (and is quite easy to remember), but also to a mood that is both merry and bittersweet. It exists in different forms, but the heart of the waltz is a primary melody that rocks gently upward (and perfectly fits the English syllables "merry widow, merry widow"), then descends just as gently, immediately establishing a sense of sadness or deflation. Yet the orchestration still sparkles (thanks largely to background use of the harp), and the dominance of strings imparts a frank sentimentality. Further phrases in small, rolling arcs complete the first subject, whereupon the waltz breaks into more brash and conventional ballroom material. The next section is a quick but smoothly flowing melody derived in part from an inversion of the opening material. The waltz cycles through more brief sections of generally bright character, in the manner of Strauss, but ultimately returns to the opening material. This waltz is sometimes folded into additional dance music from the operetta and presented as a slightly longer piece called Ballsirenen, or "Sirens of the Ball."

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