A work consisting of eight pieces, composed intermittently from 1929 or 1930 to 1938. The first piece was completed in 1929 (1930 according to the autograph manuscript), the second in 1933, the third to sixth in 1934, the seventh in 1935, and the eighth in 1938. Many aspects regarding the impetus for their composition remain unclear, and each piece is dedicated to a different person. Therefore, it is unlikely that Poulenc conceived of a single collection of eight pieces from the outset of composing the first piece. Indeed, after each piece was published individually, they were published as a single cycle by Heugel in 1939. Thus, the idea of forming a collection likely developed gradually as Poulenc composed the complete Nocturnes piece by piece.

A prominent characteristic of the entire work is the clear manifestation of various influences Poulenc received as a composer of piano music. Hervé Lacombe, who wrote a biography of Poulenc, identifies Schumann in the second and eighth pieces, Chopin (especially the influence of his Mazurkas) in the fourth, Stravinsky and Prokofiev (especially the influence of Petrushka) in the fifth, and "Bach modernized in the style of Prokofiev" in the seventh. The names of the cited composers also reveal the breadth of Poulenc's interests as a pianist, being a beloved pupil of Ricardo Viñes.

Furthermore, Nocturnes also exhibits the prominent self-borrowing characteristic of Poulenc's works. The motif of repeated octave leaps heard at the end of the first piece not only reappears in the eighth piece but also later became a principal motif in the opera Dialogues des Carmélites, premiered in 1957. Additionally, the motif from measure 36 of the first piece also appears in the fourth piece.