Les Preludes was first conceived as the introduction to a choral cantata Liszt wrote in 1844. He added the introduction later, in 1848, containing music from all four movements. The present title, however, does not refer to it having been the prelude to this work, but refers to a poem Les Preludes, one of a collection called Meditations Poetiques by the French romantic poet Lamartine. However, Liszt then prefaced the score with a paragraph of his own, which has almost nothing to do with Lamartine's poem. "What is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown song of which the fast solemn note is sounded by death? Love is the enchanted dawn of all existence; but who is lucky enough not to have his first delights of happiness interrupted by some storm, the mortal blast of which dissipates love's illusions, ... " and so on, in this rather opaque and difficult to read style.

What this tells us is that the music is an expression of various states of emotion, of a passionate and extreme nature - a fact fully in accord with Liszt's own flamboyant personality! The music is in one movement of about 15 minutes, and begins with a slow introduction to the first and principal theme of the work. This is followed by a contrasting "love" theme, after which the "storms of life" set in with a vengeance. A calmer section follows, before the energy is whipped up again to a martial and triumphant conclusion.