Millöcker had written the melody for his early work "Die keusche Diana", which premiered at the Harmonietheater in Vienna, Austria, on January 2, 1867. No title is known, nor whether the piece had a text. In 1886 Millöcker used the melody in his operetta "Der Vizeadmiral" . The piece began there with the line "Geh'n wir in den Garten, atmen Blumenduft....". The song was also adopted in a 1931 adaptation of the operetta "Gasparone," which originally premiered in 1884. The new text, written by Ernst Stephan, now read: "Dunkelrote Rosen bring' ich, schöne Frau...".