The most important known date in the life of Luys de Narváez is 1538, when he published this collection of vihuela music in Valladolid, the capital of Spain. He dedicated the publication to Francisco de los Cobos, in whose household he had been serving from at least 1526. By the time his patron died in 1547, he was in the royal chapel as master of the choir boys. He is known to have traveled to the Spanish Netherlands in 1549, but his date of death is no better known than his date of birth. His life certainly spanned the first half of the 16th century. The composer was a master on the instrument, and the publication followed by only two years the appearance of the first book of vihuela music.