Tschaikowsky's 'The Nutcracker' is a two-act ballet on a libretto adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's story 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King'. It has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces featured in the suite. Tschaikowsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming 'The Nutcracker Suite', Op. 71a, intended for concert performance.
The 'Waltz of the Flowers' is the final of the Suite and became very popular on its own as well.