This art song was originally conceived for solo voice and piano rather than chamber choir. In his arrangement, Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to the needs and expressive capabilities of a larger ensemble while at the same time preserving the character and qualities of the original. Each vocal part enjoys its own melodic line extracted from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. The variety and sophistication of this choral arrangement takes full account of the enormous flexibility in interpretation and expression demanded of soloist and pianist by French mélodies or German Lieder.

Like Goethe in his West-östlicher Diwan, the author of the poem Zauberkreis, which formed the basis of this composition, also made a close study of oriental poetry. “Was steht denn auf den hundert Blättern” (What is written on the hundred sheets) is taken from the extensive collection Östliche Rosen published in 1822 by poet and philologist Friedrich Rückert. Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn) set the words to music in 1843: “dass Schönheit in sich selbst beschrieben hat einen Kreis, und keinen andern auch das Lieben zu finden weiß” (“that beauty has described a circle within itself, and love knows how to find no other”).