The genesis of L'enfance du Christ was unusual for Berlioz, since he normally had a plan of his larger works in mind before he began writing. The work is divided into three parts; part two La fuite en Égypte (The Flight into Egypt), was composed in the autumn of 1850 and first performed in full in Leipzig in December 1853. The success of this led Berlioz to undertake a sequel, L'arrivée a Saïs (The Arrival at Saïs), which he finished in April 1854. He then began work on the opening panel of the triptych, Le songe d'Hérode (Herod's Dream), which he completed on 27 July 1854. Berlioz himself wrote the text for all three parts.