Almost the last work Ravel ever wrote was his only piano concerto. He wanted to write a concerto based on Basque themes (his birth country) but he gave up on the idea. Instead he wrote this, more entertaining, jazzy 20 minute piece. Ravel wrote it while he was also writing the concerto for the left hand, in 1929/1930.
He dedicated the piece to the pianist Marguerite Long, and he joined her in performing it around Europe. The tour bore fruit: the concert became very popular. The first recording is also by the same combination, according to the record company. In 2003 however, musicologist Arbie Orenstein argued in his A Ravel reader that it wasn’t: it was an orchestra made up of some Parisian musicians, under the baton of a different conductor.