In the first part of Liebeslieder Walzer, which features 18 songs,[3] is set in a ballroom, with the women are dressed in satin ballroom dresses and heels, while the men wears tailcoats, dancing ballroom waltz.[4][5][6] Following a brief break with the curtains lowered,[1] the women switch to romantic tutus and pointe shoes,[5] while the men only take off the gloves. The doors are opened and showed the sky.[7] This section's style resemble classical ballet[5] The dancers eventually exit the stage,[8] before returning two by two,[9] in the costumes from the first half of the ballet,[10] and listen to the last song motionless.[11]
Throughout Liebeslieder Walzer, the four couples display different kinds of emotions and subtle behavior, which is regarded as the most difficult part for the dancers.[4][12] Balanchine had remarked that the ballet is about the "changing aspects of love."[1] Shortly after the premiere, Balanchine said, "In the first act, it's the real people that are dancing. In the second act, it's their souls."[13]Alastair Macaulay, a New York Times critic who broke down the first section, wrote that the ballet is about "adult love and its attendant shadows: tender, often rapturous, exceptionally poignant." On one of the couple's interactions, he commented that he "suspected" that Balanchine was "telling us something about himself."[5]
A soprano, a mezzo-soprano, a tenor, a baritone and two pianists playing in four hands perform on stage left.[1][5][10] All of them are dressed in evening suits and ball gowns, identical to the ones worn by the dancers.[7][12]
The original set, designed by David Hays, is a bourgeois salon. In 1984, a year after Balanchine died, New York City Ballet co-founder Lincoln Kirstein commissioned a new Rococo-inspired sets by David Mitchell, which were inspired by Nymphenburg Palace, where Balanchine had visited in 1971,[1][7][15] and was the sets Balanchine envisioned when he made the ballet.[7][16]Barbara Karinska designed the costumes.[1]
Following Balanchine's death, the rights of the ballet was left to Karin von Aroldingen, who had danced Diana Adams's role and taught the ballet at Balanchine's request during his lifetime.[13]