The song cycle L'horizon chimérique (1921) is Fauré's last vocal work, and indeed, one of the final works in the composer's catalog. For the composer's audiences, these four poems by Jean de la Ville de Mirmont, with their images of the sea and of departures, would have had a level of poignant irony: the young Mirmont had been killed only a few years earlier in World War I.

Each of the songs depicts a different aspect of the sea and, even more important, the emotions it evokes. The first, "La mer est infinie et mes rêves sont fous," is quick and restless but free of turmoil. The second, "Je me suis embarqué sur un vasseau qui danse," unfolds with a repeated but slightly uneven rhythmic pattern that suggests the rolling of a ship. The third, "Diane, Séléné lune de beau métal," depicts the light of the moon on the still sea. The last, "Vaisseux, nous vous aurons aimés en pure perte," is the grandest of the four, with majestic lines in both voice and accompaniment. While it returns to the key of the first song, the text speaks of leaving the sea, belonging to the land, and yet still feeling an intense longing for the vast expanse of water.

These songs are often thought of as taking a place among Fauré's most virile efforts for the voice, and certainly the last song in particular has a sturdier tone than many of the composer's earlier works. The pensive delicacy that marked so many of those earlier songs, however, is still present here. All of the songs begin with a light touch, and there are some characteristically delicate moments, as in the last stanza of "Je me suis embarqué sur un vasseau qui danse," with its familiar slow crescendo and relatively rapid decrescendo.

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