In 1883 Glazunov orchestrated a number of piano works by Chopin and called the suite Chopiniana (Les Sylphides). The music inspired the young choreograph Mikhail Fokin, who later achieved international fame, to devise the ballet Chopiniana, in which he invented a plot for each of the five pieces Glazunov had orchestrated.

The ballet was first performed in St Petersburg in 1907. Mikhail Fokin once said: "Chopiniana was one of my greatest successes."