This first chapter of the Keyword section of the collection “Anthologie du phem” (phem’s source readings) addresses the relationship between music and internationalism (or cosmopolitanism), that is one of the most crucial issues arising from the Parisian musical debate of the interwar period. The three selected articles defend three different positions: a francocentric universalism, the condemnation of internationalism considered as illusory, and the utopia of cosmopolitanism. In the interwar period, the ideal of a pacific international cooperation coexisted with the most extreme nationalisms, and the discourse presented in this articles provides a deeper insight into the political and aesthetical issues behind the musical debate.