Ainulindalë is the creation story at the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.
The word Ainulindalë means “The Music of the Ainur.” It describes how Eru Ilúvatar creates the Ainur and invites them to make music, from which a vast vision of the world develops. Melkor introduces discord, but the larger design incorporates even the conflict into a deeper purpose.
The story establishes the cosmology of Tolkien’s legendarium before the histories of the Elves, Men, and other peoples unfold. It presents creation through music rather than through a conventional chronological account of physical events.
The Silmarillion was edited and published posthumously by Tolkien’s son Christopher in 1977. Ainulindalë is followed by Valaquenta, which describes the Valar and Maiar, and then by the Quenta Silmarillion, the central history of the Silmarils and the First Age. These titles are sometimes confused because they are neighboring sections of the same book.