The first hymn, composed of 299 verses and dedicated to Venus “Divinità che ha per distintivo la bella natura apparente” ("Divinity whose distinctive quality is apparent beautiful nature"), contains a celebration of the civilizing power of poetry and the arts. The poet addresses Antonio Canova, the author of a statue of Venus that has been in Florence's Uffizi Gallery since 1812, inviting him to take part in a rite in honour of the Graces in the name of a common adhesion to the principles of the classical world. The hymn celebrates the birth of the three Graces, defined in the notes to the poem (EN I, p. 949) as "intermediate divinities between heaven and earth" (“divinità intermedie tra il cielo e la terra”) that appear together with Venus on the sea of Greece; they have the job of guiding men to control their innate feral instincts, instilling harmony and concord in them.

In the second hymn, which is made up of 350 verses and is dedicated to Vesta, "Virginal numen and custodian of the eternal fire that animates gentle hearts" (“Nume virginale e custode del foco eterno che anima i cuori gentili”), the Graces go from Greece to Italy; here on the Bellosguardo Hills a propitiatory rite is celebrated which three of the poet's friends are invited to: Eleonora Nencini, a Florentine player of the harp, a symbol of music; Cornelia Martinetti from Bologna, who takes to the altar a honeycomb symbolizing the sweetness of the poetry transmigrated from Greece to Italy and, finally, Milanese dancer Maddalena Bignami.

The third hymn, of only 24 verses, is dedicated to Pallas, "Goddess of the consolatory arts of life and maestro of talents" (“Dea delle arti consolatrici della vita e maestra d’ingegni”); addressing Canova again, Foscolo summons the protection of the great poets of the past. The hymn was meant to represent the Graces on the island of Atlantis, where the three divinities took refuge to flee from the corruption of the world: Pallas makes them return to men from here, protected from passions by a miraculous veil in which man's most sacred emotions are represented.

A. Canova, Statue of the Three Graces, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg