Composer and flutist Valerie Coleman is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. She is a graduate of the Mannes School of Music and Boston University, and is currently on the Flute Performance and Music Composition Faculty of the Mannes School. Last year she premiered Jennifer Higdon's Flute Concerto with the Chicago Philharmonic. Most of her compositions involve the flute.

In 1996, while still a student, Coleman became one of the founding members of the Imani Wind Quintet, staying with it until 2018. Explaining the reason for starting the ensemble in an interview on NPR, she said that as a child she used to be in the youth orchestra, and there were so many African Americans. But somewhere along the line, when she got to college, she was the only one in the orchestra. So, she wondered what in the world happened, and she realized that role models were needed.

Umoja – unity in Swahili – started life some decades ago as a simple song for a women's choir, to celebrate the first day of Kwanzaa. A few years later, after starting the Imani Wind Quintet, Coleman reworked Umoja into a wind quintet, and finally, in 2019, she arranged and expanded it for symphony orchestra on commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra. This version brings an expansion and complexity to the simple original tune, reminiscent of Appalachian style music. After many iterations and complex transformations, including some harsh jazzy versions, the original theme returns with full orchestra.