Le Baiser was commissioned by M. Henri Vever and Dalou worked on the composition from 1890-94, modifying his earlier Amour et Psyché. The bronze commissioned by Vever was a pièce unique and the Hébrard casts were taken subsequently from a plaster maquette in the Petit Palais, which was purchased along with the contents of Dalou's studio between 1902 and 1905. Hébrard was given permission to cast bronzes from the plaster maquettes in 1907. The editions were generally restricted to ten and many bronzes are numbered accordingly. Other casts by Susse, and in bisquit de Sévres are also known.
Like all of Dalou's small scale wax and bronze figures, the present group has an immediacy of modelling and energy of conception that elevate him above the norm of 19th century artists. Whereas the Amour et Pyché, know today only through drawings, portrayed sedate and tender lovers, the present group, with its bacchic protagonists, reveals more passionate emotions and a cohesive interlocking of volumes.