This work was the result of a commission to write the theme song for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The selection committee in searching for a composer listened to recordings on file at C.B.S. radio without knowing who the composer was. The judges narrowed their choices to two works Lenox Avenue and A Deserted Plantation, which turned out to be by the same composer, William Grant Still. The theme song, Rising Tide, was played continually in the Perisphere, which was the central structure and principal symbol of the fair.
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