Gather Ye Rosebuds takes its title from a line in a poem by Robert Herrick. The poem exhorts us to take advantage of the time we have been given, for all too soon it will be gone. The work opens with a bold statement in the winds, giving way to a plaintive melody in the flute. The music builds to a glorious climax using the power of the full sonority of the winds, and ends softly, in a reflective mood.