The author of the text was the French Symbolist poet Charles Cros (1842-1888). Chausson took his poem `Nocturne` (from the cycle `Eternal Songs`) and shortened it from 16 to 12 stanzas.
The plot is a bitter monologue of an abandoned woman who recalls her past love and happiness, suffers from loneliness, and in the end decides to drown herself in a pond to end her torment.
