Les Préludes, composed in 1854, is a tonal commentary on the thoughts contained in a passage from Lamartine's Méditations poetiques. The score bears as a preface an excerpt from the Méditations, which may be translated as follows:
"What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown song of which the first solemn note is sounded by death? Love is the morning radiance of every heart; but in what human life have not the first ecstasies of awakening bliss been broken in upon by some storm whose cruel breath dispelled every fond illusion and blasted the sacred shrine? And what soul, thus sorely wounded, does not, emerging from the tempest, seek balm in the solitude and serenity of country life? Yet man will not long resign himself to the soothing quietude of nature; and when the trumpet sounds the signal of alarm, he hastens to arms, no matter what may be the cause that summons. He plunges into the thick of the combat, and, in the fury and tumult of battle, regains self-confidence through the exercise of his powers."