The two-act ballet is based on the book The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by E.T.A. Hoffman, a famous writer and music critic. A choreographer named Marius Petipa commissioned Tchaikovsky to write a ballet score for the plot in 1891.

The Nutcracker demonstrates that Tchaikovsky was one of the greatest masters of orchestration. The music is very light and sweet. It uses the high parts of the orchestra and clever combinations of woodwind instruments to create a doll-like fantasy sound-world.