Henk Badings (1907–1987) was born in Java when it was still a Dutch colony; he later acknowledged the influence of Indonesian music heard in childhood as the source for his adult interest in microtonal scales. Badings was a largely self-taught musician who was able to function at the highest levels of academic teaching.
Soir d'été begins, like La nuit en mer, at the end of the day. Two lovers rush home before dark, but not before taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the sensuous world around them. The light-hearted music accompanies the gaiety of the couple's hearts. Then quickly, before they lose themselves too much in the timelessness of love, they hurry home on a warm summer night.