The composer,  Albert Roussel, visited Cambodia in 1909. He spent several years in India and South East Asia and these travel experiences deeply affected him. Many of his musical works would reflect his interest in distant, exotic lands, and a strain of exoticism coloured his work.  His composition Krishna from the cycle Joueurs de Flûte is based on the North-Indian musical scale Raga Shri, from the Indian region whichRoussel visited in 1906. Additional note: Krishna also appears in earliest phase of Cambodian art as Krishna Govardhana.

Thaïs, is the legend of a hedonistic Egyptian courtesan, and a devotée of Venus. She leaves her life of luxury and pleasure to find salvation through God. Jules Massenet’s Méditation is an instrumental intermezzo from the opera Thaïs for solo violin. It is also an often-performed concert music piece. Massenet’s work is also described as bearing a sort of religious eroticism, and there have been many controversial productions.

Pagodes is the first of Debussy’s three pieces cycle Estampes. In the composition of Estampes, Debussy tried to capture the feeling of imaginary excursions to Asia, Spain and France.In Pagodes he evokes images of East  Asia. It makes extensive use of pentatonic scales and mimics Chinese and Japanese traditional melodies while also incorporating hints of Javanese (Sundanese) Gamelan percussion. Debussy first heard gamelan music at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. He observed,“Their conservatoire is the rhythm of the sea, thewind among the leaves and the thousand sounds of nature which they understand without approaching an arbitrary treatise“.

L’Église d’amour (The Church of Love) is the last piece from the cycles Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus (Twenty contemplations on the Infant Jesus) by Olivier Messiaen. His musical language is a representation of religious symbolism. His mother, Cecile Sauvage, exerted a profound influence upon his life and his music through her poetry. Other influences evident in Vingt Regards include birdsong, the influences of nature, Russian music, Greek metrics and Hindu rhythms.

Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune is one of Debussy's most famous orchestral works, and is considered a turning point in the history of music. Pierre Boulez remarked that,"The flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music.” The transcription reduced into a trio version, is an artistic experiment and challenge.