You don’t have to work very hard to find songs with references to flowers; they crop up in all corners of the musical repertoire, from classical to jazz and folk music. But what is surprising is the range of symbolic meanings that have been associated with them. Here are 14 of the best songs inspired by flowers.
Best songs about flowers: Delibes, Bizet, Rachmaninov and more
Léo Delibes: Flower Duet from Lakmé
Is this the most famous of songs about flowers? Long before British Airways got hold of it, this duet from the first act of Léo Delibes’s 1883 tragic opera Lakme was widely loved for its gorgeous melody and luscious orchestration. Sung by the eponymous Lakmé, daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river, it is one of the most intimate and immediately accessible songs in the opera. Which probably explains why it is often performed as a standalone work.
Georges Bizet: ‘The Flower Song‘ from Carmen
This lyrical moment in Georges Bizet’s sassy 1875 opera takes place as Don José arrives to meet Carmen. From his tunic he pulls out the flower that Carmen threw to him in Act I, communicating, with this simple gesture, his complex emotional connection to her and his resulting inner turmoil. Part of the aria’s power lies in its sudden shifts to remote keys between one strain and the next, catapulting us from one emotional world into another.
Bob Thiele and George David Weiss: ‘What a Wonderful World’
Along with “trees of green” and “clouds of white”, Bob Thiele and George David Weiss’s uplifting 1967 jazz song features imagery of “red roses” blooming, representing beauty and love. So it’s no wonder that it’s such a popular choice for weddings, with many a bride floating down the aisle to Louis Armstrong’s gravelly tones.
Sergei Rachmaninov: ‘Lilacs’
Based on a poem about lilacs by Ekaterina Beketova, Sergei Rachmaninov‘s 1902 song is known for its lyricism and lush Romanticism. It is also associated with an eccentric gesture of appreciation from one of Rachmaninov’s fans: Madame Felka Rousseau, who, around 1908, began anonymously sending bouquets of white lilacs to Rachmaninov at his performances and on special occasions as he toured the world – a ritual that continued for years, until the sender finally revealed her identity in 1918.
Billy Strayhorn: ‘A Flower is a Lovesome Thing’
Known for its lyrical and poetic qualities, this 1941 song beautifully captures the essence of flowers in a romantic context. Each type of flower symbolises different aspects of love and nature, reinforcing the theme of beauty in simplicity, though it’s striking that, throughout this song, Strayhorn maintains a subdued and minor mood. It’s a song that has been recorded by various artists, starting with Duke Ellington. My favourite version, however, is Ella Fitzgerald’s, recorded in 1965.
By the way, you may also know the name of Billy Strayhorm from his collaboration with the great Duke Ellington on The Nutcracker Suite, a jazzed-up version of the much-loved ballet by Tchaikovsky.
Franz Schubert: ‘Heidenröslein’
The idea of a wanderer giving expression to his or her own thoughts became a very popular theme in early nineteenth-century poetry lieder. Franz Schubert‘s romantic lied of 1815, based on Goethe’s 1789 poem “Heidenröslein”, is a classic example, telling the story of a boy who encounters a beautiful rose and decides to pick it, despite the rose’s warning that it will prick him. It’s widely interpreted as a metaphor for a young man’s attempt to win the love of a girl, with the rose representing the young woman.
Nina Simone: ‘Lilac Wine‘
In ‘Lilac Wine’, James Shelton’s 1950 song, the narrator reminisces about a lost love while seeking comfort in a metaphorical wine made from lilac flowers. It’s a poignant song, full of nostalgia, particularly in Nina Simone’s haunting 1966 version.
More best songs about flowers: Britten, Stravinsky, Strauss
Benjamin Britten: Five Flower Songs
Next on our list of songs about flowers is this set of five part songs, set to poems in English by four authors, was composed in 1950 to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, owners of Dartington Hall, who were both keen gardeners. Each song describes a different flower but Britten, being Britten, didn’t go in for a saccharine celebration of their beauty. Instead he created a somewhat unsettling atmosphere, particularly in the fourth song, ‘Marsh Flowers’, where he uses his music to flesh out descriptions of the flowers as “slimy”, “faded” or with “sickly scent”.
Trad. American: ‘Wildwood Flower‘
This classic American folk song reflects on the beauty of the wildflower, which serves as a metaphor for love and longing. Although the song is believed to have been written in 1860, its stock was significantly raised by the Carter Family – an early twentieth century folk music group, whose 1928 recording of it sold nearly 100,000 copies, which was a remarkable achievement for that time.
Igor Stravinsky: ‘The Flower’
Based on the work of the Russian symbolist Konstantin Balmont, Igor Stravinsky‘s 1911 song is part of a mini-cycle that explores the transition from winter to spring. As one of Stravinsky’s earlier works, it showcases his early 20th century modernist style, blending elements of impressionism with unconventional harmonies and rhythms. It’s also worth noting that it was written shortly before his iconic ballet The Rite of Spring, which premiered in 1913. But the two works are worlds apart in style.
Herbert Howells: ‘A Spotless Rose’
One of Herbert Howells’s most enduring works, this tender 1919 song is is a simple setting of the anonymous 15th-century poem about Jesus’s birth and the purity of Mary, using the rose as a metaphor for innocence. It begins with a serene melody, which is later complemented by a stunning tenor solo that adds a radiant quality to the music.
And the final cadence, particularly on the words “cold winter’s night,” is one of Howells’s most sublime moments. So it’s interesting that the inspiration for this piece struck in the least sacred of circumstances, while Howells was observing trains shunting on the Bristol-Gloucester line from his cottage window.
Richard Strauss: ‘The Presentation of the Rose’ from Der Rosenkavalier
This significant scene takes place in Act 2 of Richard Strauss’s 1911 opera Der Rosenkavalier, where Count Octavian Rofrano, acting as the “Rosenkavalier” or rose-bearer, presents a ceremonial silver rose to Sophie von Faninal, the daughter of a wealthy bourgeois. Symbolising love and courtship, it sets the stage for the romantic developments that follow, and is accompanied by some of Strauss’s most shimmering, magical music.
Benjamin Britten: Elegy
Part of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, this song, based on William Blake’s The Sick Rose, tells of a rose that is metaphorically ill due to an “invisible worm” that has found its way into the rose’s “bed of crimson joy.” Britten’s angular, chromatic writing is very much at home in Blake’s famous 18th century poem about corruption and the loss of innocence.
Trad.: ‘Ring around the Rosie’
With its mention of ‘rosie’ and ‘posies’, this well-known nursery rhyme might seem innocent enough. Scholars, however, have long maintained that it’s actually about the deadly plague that killed millions of people in Medieval Europe. They believe that the ‘ring-a-round the rosie’ is a coded reference to the red circular rash common in certain forms of plague, and that the ‘posies’ were the flowers that people carried around to fend off the illness. As for the ‘a-tishoo’ and ‘we all fall down’, it doesn’t take long to figure out what that might mean.
Not all modern folklorists stand by the plague-origin theory, however, Some suggest that the rhyme ‘Ring around the Rosie’ is actually about the ban on dancing among Protestants, and the grisly methods used to enforce it.