During World War I, to honor the courage of King Albert I of Belgium, who resisted the German army, and his soldiers, the British writer Hall Caine edited King Albert's Book. At that time, Ravel was commissioned to compose a piece, and what he wrote was this Berceuse héroïque. The melody of the Belgian national anthem, La Brabançonne, also became one of its themes. Overall, it is a piece with a somber atmosphere. The piano version and the orchestral version were composed consecutively in 1914. The premiere took place the following year, in October 1915.