Musique franaise is a series designed for students and teachers, offering new editions of masterworks in French music, with performance suggestions and historical and stylistic commentary English, French, German and Italian.

Debussy had originally planned the work with the Suite bergamasque (HN 381) in mind, but then published it separately in October 1904, with good reason. He was so taken with the brilliance and inventiveness of the work, that he commented on it in diverse letters to his publisher Durand. In October 1904 he wrote: “How difficult it is to play. This piece seems to me to combine every way of attacking the instrument because it unites force and grace.” Following its premire with the famous Catalonian virtuoso Ricardo Vies, it quickly became a success with the public.