Around 1835, Alkan left his parents' home in the Marais district and moved to Place d'Orléans, where leading pianists and writers of the time, such as Chopin, Kalkbrenner, Zimmermann, George Sand, and Alexandre Dumas, resided. Although Alkan showed a strong creative drive within this high-quality artistic environment, in 1848, he was unhappily defeated in the succession struggle for Zimmermann's position at the Conservatoire, his former teacher. This was followed by the unfortunate death of his close friend Chopin in 1849. His letters to Delacroix and George Sand reveal that he remained in a state of mental instability during this period. After Chopin's death, he left Place d'Orléans, which simultaneously meant severing the professional ties through which he earned his livelihood. Although he regularly participated in chamber music concerts in 1853, he became increasingly reclusive from the late 1850s to the 1860s, earning a living by giving lessons to upper-class women. "Mr. Alkan is not at home" – when acquaintances visited Alkan, they were merely turned away by the apartment manager with these words.

However, in 1857, he published a collection of works, likely accumulated during the 1850s, all at once. The most extensive work among them was this 12 Études in All the Minor Keys, Op. 39. The works published in this year are important evidence that fills the void in his activities since 1849. It seems paradoxical that, despite complaining so much about misanthropy and ill health, he produced such large-scale and meticulously crafted works with astonishing creativity. Did he perhaps channel all his reactions to the nadir of his life into his compositions?

This collection of études, like 12 Études in All the Major Keys, Op. 35, was dedicated to F-J. Fétis (1784-1871, at the Paris Conservatoire: 1821-1833), who taught counterpoint and fugue at the Paris Conservatoire during Alkan's student years. Fétis was a good mentor who had watched over him since his youth, and Alkan deeply respected this Belgian scholar. Alkan may have devoted himself to composition in secret during this period, perhaps using Fétis's ideas and music as a guiding principle. This seems evident merely from the fact that these two collections of études were dedicated to him.

This Op. 39 was published by Richault in two volumes. The main characteristic of this collection is its orchestral writing for piano, which can be understood simply by observing that movements 4 to 7 are titled "Symphony," movements 8 to 10 are titled "Concerto," and movement 11 is titled "Overture." Many of the pieces are written with thick textures, and terms indicating orchestral instruments, as well as "tutti," "solo," and other terms used in orchestral works, are frequently found. Since the 1840s, Alkan had established a unique method of transcribing orchestral works for piano through pieces such as Fantaisie sur Don Juan, Souvenirs du Conservatoire, and his arrangement of the Le Prophète Overture. In Op. 39, he applied this symphonic piano writing to original compositions.