The reasons that explain the use of the French language in poetic collections of his mature years were explained by Rilke himself in a letter to the critic Edouard Corrodi: «If today the publication of a selection (due to my friends) of my French verses is imminent , it is because a series of circumstances has led me to this consent and this risk. The desire, first of all, to offer the canton of Valais the testimony of a recognition that goes beyond the private sphere, for everything I have received (from the country and from the people). Then, the desire to be more visibly linked, as a simple student and a slightly immodest grateful person, to France and the incomparable Paris, which represent a whole world in my evolution and in my memories.