The young Peter Warlock's boyhood hero was the composer Frederick Delius, whose 60th birthday in 1922 he marked with this short Serenade for strings, composed in pastiche style, but with his own personal twist. Largely influenced by other composers (Delius, van Dieren, Quilter, and Bartok), Warlock had little formal musical training. Throughout his life he continued to promote Delius' music and in 1923 completed a biography of Delius which was published by Bodley Head, and, with Thomas Beecham, organised the 1929 Delius Festival in London.

The Serenade was originally published in 1925 by Oxford University Press, this new edition has been re-typeset but is otherwise unchanged.