“The Waltz” is based on the poem by A. Lutzky, pen name of the Yiddish poet Aaron Zucker (1894-1957), set to music by D. Zisl Slepovitch and performed by Sasha Lurje and the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble as part of the Songs from Testimonies project. Lutzky was born in Ukraine and immigrated to New York in the 1910s. In the poem, Lutzky raises themes of lost youth, lost hopes, lost lives, nostalgia for his homeland, and the fragility of life. Employing metaphorical language, the poet expresses themes of death and sorrow.

The poem was sung in the Lodz Ghetto during the Second World War and was recounted in a testimony at the Fortunoff Video Archive.