Standford says, "A long fascination with putting folksongs from around the world into what might be regarded as an over-sophisticated context led me to some compositional explorations back in the 1970s. Hungarian, Russian and Latin American songs and dances found their way into sets of string orchestra pieces. A group of Danish folksongs made a piano suite, and these French songs had first a violin and piano accompaniment and then became this set for wind quintet. This is an appreciation of the folksongs rather than any endeavour to improve them." One of the main aims of the music is to show the various distinctive colours between each of the five instruments. Each of the four movements is a character study built around a well known French folksong, and is intended to be light hearted and accessible in style: 

1 Sarabande: an elderly woman’s song

2 La mist’-en l’aire: chanson populaire

3 L’amour de moi: a 15th c. troubadour song

4 Ô ma tendre Musette: a lament from Musigny

5 Il pleut, il pleut bergère: chanson populaire

This work was played and broadcast many times as Suite Française until it was revised in 2001.