Tango Suite was commissioned by Radio France in July 2002 and completed in October of the same year. Written immediately after Serenade for Strings, Tango Suite also employs a string ensemble but with a contralto voice added.

The commission for Alla Brève determined that the group would be relatively small, however the double bass gives a very deep and solid character to the music. From about 1995 Nigel Keay had been writing a very "deep-toned" music, and this is reflected in the Viola Concerto of 2000 in which he uses a contrabassoon in a chamber orchestra, often taking the instrument down to the bottom of its range. This idea is extended and the instrumentation of string quintet (standard string quartet + double-bass) is used in Tango Suite. 

The five pieces are influenced by four particular forms of traditional Argentinean music: tango, milonga, candombe, and valse. Tango Suite is a work composed with the true spirit of tango in mind, but in the context of a personal musical language to create a fusion of styles.

2. Poemas de amor a kind of neo-romantic tango which has the fastest tempo. This song contains lovingly blended string writing and an open airy breathable style, both intense and placid at once. A gentle song buoyed by its accompaniment,

3. Capricho is milonga-influenced with a moderate pace. It's perhaps the most undemanding of the cycle for the listener with a simple happy feel and lilting tempo.

4. Vida tends toward a slower base tempo with a more percussive style texture influenced by the candombe. An open easy-going song.

5. Tú, que nunca serás.. is in 3/4 (Tempo di valse) but often employs rhythmic devices such as hemiola, cross-rhythm and syncopation. Varied within itself, the song opens out in the middle, to give an open charm with a solid rhythmic character.