Copland sailed to France in June 1921, intending to spend a year there (he ultimately stayed for three) expanding his horizons and furthering his musical studies. In October of that year he met the famous teacher Nadia Boulanger, who, after hearing one of his compositions, accepted him as a student (at four dollars, 20 cents per lesson). The rigorous program of study included analysis, score reading, and orchestration. Copland was also expected to compose, and under Boulanger's guidance, he wrote a brace of works, including the Passacaglia (1922) for piano. The Passacaglia, dedicated to Boulanger, was first performed by Daniel Ericourt in Paris in January 1923. In November 1924, five months after Copland's return to the United States, the work was performed again at the first Young Composers' Concert held by the League of Composers; this was, in fact, Copland's American premiere as a composer. In 1931, the Passacaglia was choreographed by Helen Tamiris as the ballet Olympus Americanus, marking the first time Copland's music was used in this context—a bellwether of the composer's singular contribution to the ballet repertoire.

Following in the tradition of the passacaglia, Copland's work begins with an unaccompanied bass line, which is developed in a series of increasingly elaborate variations, including a vaguely comic one in folk song style, and another featuring harmonies redolent of French impressionism. Copland makes use of various contrapuntal techniques and intensity increases throughout; the final two variations are so complex that three staves were necessary to notate them clearly. As the composer laconically said of the Passacaglia, "I am told that it is not an easy piece to play."

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