Boléro, a one-movement orchestral piece originally composed as a ballet, premiered in 1928, is arguably Maurice Ravel's most famous musical composition.
Before Boléro Ravel had composed as well large scale ballets (Daphnis et Chloé, composed for the Ballets Russes 1909–1912), as suites for the ballet (second orchestral version of Ma Mère l'Oye, 1912), as one-movement dance pieces (for example La Valse, 1906-1920). Apart from such compositions intended for a staged dance performance, Ravel had demonstrated an interest in composing re-styled dances, from his earliest successes (the 1895 Menuet and the 1899 Pavane) to his more mature works like the Tombeau de Couperin (which takes the format of a dance suite).
Boléro epitomises Ravel's preoccupation with restyling and re-inventing dance movements. It was also one of the last pieces he composed before illness forced him into retirement: the two piano concertos and the Don Quichotte à Dulcinée song cycle were the only compositions that followed after Boléro.