It isn't clear whether the works in Debussy's piano set Images (Images oubliées; 1894) were actually intended to be played together; the set wasn't published after the composer's death. According to an annotation in the manuscript, the pieces are meant as a "conversation" between the piano and one's self; other similar annotations throughout suggest the whimsical influence of Erik Satie.

The first piece in the set, "Lent," is a dream-like prelude, ethereal and subtle, yet strongly reminiscent of the composer's opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1893 - 95). The "Sarabande" is the first version of that used in the suite Pour le piano (1894 - 1901) and differs from the more familiar version only in detail. "Nous n'irons plus au bois" (We no longer will go to the woods) is a well-known French children's song that Debussy used elsewhere, notably in "Rondes de printemps" from the orchestral work Images (1905 - 12). Here, though, the tune is embedded in a harp-like texture that anticipates the Prelude of Pour le piano as well as the "Jardins sous la pluie" of Les estampes (1903). It may indeed have been such later borrowings from Images oubliées that led Debussy to decline to publish the work during his own lifetime.

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