Dedicated to Louis Diémer, this suite was written for a multi-category musical composition competition run in 1903 by the French musical magazine Musica. It is an unusually Francophone piece for Enescu and could easily be mistaken for a work of one of the French impressionist composers—and Debussy, interestingly, was on the panel of judges for the competition! Enescu submitted the suite anonymously under the title Des cloches sonores and won not only first prize in its category but the Pleyel prize (a grand piano) for the best piano piece. The rhythmical fluidity and flexibility throughout the suite (but especially in the haunting Pavane) foreshadow some of the characteristics of Enescu's later writing for piano and chamber ensembles.

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