The Richardson Chamber Players closed its 2015-16 season with a concert of French musical bonbons at Richardson Auditorium, featuring a number of Princeton University music department faculty and students. Continuing a mission of presenting music one rarely hears live, Director Michael Pratt programmed a performance of chamber music from the early part of the 20th century which might have been heard in Parisian salons and concert halls.

Composer Jacques Ibert incorporated the flute into much of his works, including two songs for soprano and flute known collectively as Deux Stèles orientées. Like many of his contemporaries working in Paris in the early decades of the 20th century, Ibert capitalized on the fascination at the time with the exotic, and drew the texts for these songs from translations of Chinese steles — inscribed stone monuments.

Soprano Sarah Pelletier and flautist Jayn Rosenfeld presented Ibert’s Deux Stèles with confidence and a solid partnership. In these songs, the flute is just as much a “character” as the narrating singer, and Ms. Rosenfeld played cleanly, and with complete command of the languid melodic runs characteristic of music of this period. Ms. Pelletier’s voice carried well in the hall, and she sang with great self-assurance. Flute and voice were very independent of each other, and Ms. Pelletier sang what were largely unaccompanied melodic lines with expert vocal execution and poise.

Mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick explored Maurice Ravel’s music for voice and chamber ensemble with a performance of Chansons madécasses, also rooted in the exotic. In these songs, Ravel set 18th-century texts describing the culture and history of Madagascar. Ms. Rearick had a dramatic challenge to shift gears between erotic poetry and fierce descriptions of the colonization of the region, but maintained solid control over the vocal demands of the music and the moods of the text. Subtly accompanied by cellist Alistair MacRae, pianist Jennifer Tao and Ms. Rosenfeld in the opening “Nahandove,” Ms. Rearick was sensitive to the text and kept the flow of the music moving along. The starkness of cello and piccolo (played by Ms. Rosenfeld) accompaniment was particularly effective.

The instrumental works on the program captured well the muted palettes of early 20th-century French music. Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp especially depicted the dreamy musical textures and gentleness of the Impressionist era, as Ms. Rosenfeld, violist Jessica Thompson, and harpist Elaine Christy brought out the melodic lines in a smooth flowing manner. Ms. Christy had a particularly gentle touch on the harp as Ms. Thompson added subtle viola lines. The music may have been subdued in character, but there was a great deal of precision from the players, and the ensemble connection was solid.

A trio of Darius Milhaud’s symphonies pour le petit orchestre closed the program, featuring the entire ensemble of 11 players led by Mr. Pratt. Included in this ensemble were two students mentored by members of the Richardson Chamber Players, demonstrating the ensemble’s commitment to the next generation of chamber musicians. Of the six Little Symphonies which Ravel composed, Mr. Pratt chose three which demonstrated Milhaud’s innovative compositional techniques in polytonality and unique instrumental combinations. In the first symphony, Le Printemps, clarity of playing kept the sound from becoming cacophonous when all musicians were in action, with a particularly effective duet from Ms. Christy and clarinetist Jo-Ann Sternberg. Oboist Matthew Sullivan was featured extensively in the second symphony, with the third demonstrating saucy clarinet solo lines contrasted with a jagged and jaunty “finale” from all the players.

The Richardson Chamber Players has a particular commitment to chamber works for unusual combinations of instruments and voices. Sunday afternoon’s concert at Richardson featured the highest level of music-making from Princeton faculty and students, while introducing the audience to not-often heard music from a very special time in music history.