Lumbye is best known for his light compositions, many of which evoke non-musical sources. The Champagne Galop, for example, begins with the 'pop' of a champagne cork, and the Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop faithfully recreates the sounds of a train chugging out of a station and grinding to a halt at the next stop. This Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop (originally title: København Jernbane Damp Galop) was composed in 1847 to celebrate the opening of the first railway in Denmark between Copenhagen and Roskilde.