"English song in the first half of the twentieth century was largely defined by the wonderful output of Roger Quilter and Gerald Finzi, both of whom delighted in setting fine poetry by Wordsworth, Shakespeare and others. She walks in beauty was inspired by these two composers, with a choice of quintessentially English texts that are particularly musically evocative and colorful. The melody flowed from the natural rhythm of the words and, indeed, seemed already to exist as I read the poem to myself for the first time."