There is a spooky quality to the first half of this song and a mood that lightens at the end. It is a quiet, reflective, and enigmatic song, Francis Poulenc's last setting of a text by Paul Eluard (1895 - 1953). The poet was one of the original Surrealists and many of the statements in the original Surrealist Manifesto (1924) were his ideas. Although his style became more populist and lyrical, he often displays the surrealist penchant for sudden, strange imagery. Poulenc said he was attracted to Eluard's lyrical quality and to the fact that the poet was the only original surrealist who loved music. By the mid-'50s, Poulenc stated increasingly often that he felt his career as a songwriter was essentially over. He had said all he wanted to say, for the most part, producing one of the finest bodies of art songs by any composer. While there are charming songs in his last handful of them, his comments in his Diary of My Songs indicates he did not rank them among his best works. The enigmatic quality already mentioned is both a part of the song's charm and a possible reason to call it weak, relatively. While the quiet intensity of the song and its initial mysterious atmosphere grip the listener and then guide him/her into the brighter territory of the closing lines, the fact that the emotional content is elusive results in the song making an uncertain impression. For the text to this song by his old friend, Poulenc returned to the volume A toute épreuve, a slender, pink-papered book of poems that had yielded the texts for Poulenc's first collaboration with this poet, his Five Poems of Paul Eluard (1935). Poulenc himself gave the song mixed reviews: "Song without surprise. The second part...is well-designed." (Quoted by Pierre Bernac in Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.) To complete the nostalgic quality of the factors that inspired the composition of this song, it should be noted that Poulenc wrote it for the great singer of the past Jane Bathori. Poulenc rated her as one of the greatest interpreters of his songs. On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Poulenc dedicated this song to her in recognition of her service to his music, as well as that of "...most early twentieth century French composers, Ravel among others, by performing their works for the first time."

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