In 1942, choreographer George Balanchine received a commission from Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus to choreograph a polka for elephants. He turned to Stravinsky to compose a short ballet. 

The piece is a polka only in spots. There are numerous changes in rhythm, sometimes with odd elephantine lurches, and it ends with a parody of Franz Schubert's Marche militaire No. 1.

The ballet premiered in Madison Square Garden in April 1942. Balanchine choreographed it with 50 dancers and 50 elephants decked out in pink ballet tutus. The circus repeated the performance over 30 times, but Stravinsky never attended it.