When Visions de l'Amen was premiered, Paris was in the midst of German occupation. Concerts were actively held during this period, but the musical landscape gradually took on a wartime character, with the Berlin State Opera led by Karajan performing Wagner's operas at the Opéra, and works by Jewish composers being excluded from concert programs. In response to this situation, the Pleiade Concert Series, organized by Gallimard, a publishing house known for its publications La Nouvelle Revue Française and the 'Bibliothèque de la Pléiade' (Pléiade Library), began in 1942. Gaston Gallimard, the company's director, wished to create a kind of salon where Parisian notables could gather. Denise Tual, a friend of Gallimard who was responsible for organizing the concerts, was captivated by Messiaen's performance, which she happened to hear at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in the autumn of 1942, and proposed commissioning him to compose a work for the Pleiade Concerts. Messiaen readily accepted this commission and immediately began composing, completing Visions de l'Amen in mid-March 1943 and commencing rehearsals with Loriod in mid-April. The premiere, held at the Galerie Charpentier on May 10, 1943, took place under the watchful eyes of renowned cultural figures such as Honegger, Poulenc, Valéry, Cocteau, and Dior, with Loriod performing on the first piano and Messiaen on the second. The score was published by Éditions Durand in March 1950.