The Station Orchestra
conducted by Warwick Braithwaite

Ravel's suite of dances in waltz rhythm has as a motto a quotation from the poet Henri de Regnier: 'The ever new and delightful pleasure of a useless occupation'.
In its original form (for Piano) the set of waltzes was played in 1911 at a concert at which all the items appeared on the programme without the composers' names, and the audience was invited to try to discover their identity. A majority correctly ascribed the Waltzes to Ravel, but Saint-Saens, Satie, d'Indy, Messager and other composers were named by some listeners.
The arrangement for Orchestra was made in the following year.
There are in all seven short dance sections, with an Epilogue in slow time.