New Music was founded as a not-for-profit, quarterly publication of modern, (mostly) American music, initially edited and partly funded by the composer Henry Cowell. The periodical counted around 700 subscribers in advance of its first issue in 1927, but that number plummeted to 350 when that issue appeared, much to Cowell's dismay. Ives, however, was so taken with the enterprise that he submitted a check for an additional 25 subscriptions. Cowell called Ives to offer his personal thanks, and, after examining some of Ives' works, offered to publish them in New Music.

Ives demurred at first, doubting that the series was truly non-commercial, but eventually changed his tune. He offered some of his scores to Cowell on the condition that he (Ives) would pay for all of the production costs. Because Ives had only self-published before, New Music effectively became his first publisher, and his music was the feature of several early issues beginning in 1929. This volume of songs marks the third time his works appeared in the publication.

Arthur Cohn was a publisher, conductor, composer, and orchestrator as well as the longtime Director of the publishing company Carl Fisher, where he was responsible for publishing many of Ives's works. He was also director of the Edwin Fleischer Collection in Philadelphia from 1934-52.

This second edition lists the same publication month and year (October 1933) as the first edition. While we have not been able to determine the reason for this (the publication history of New Music has yet to be thoroughly researched), it is possible that New Music quickly produced the second edition owing to the issue’s popularity.