A poem consisting of 3 stanzas and an envoy.
poem of one or more sets of three-, seven- or eight-lined stanzas, with envoi of four or five lines. ballade royal, stanzas of seven or eight decasyllabic lines; rime royal.
In literature, a poetic form developed in France in the later Middle Ages from the ballad, generally consisting of one or more groups of three stanzas of seven or eight lines each, followed by a shorter stanza or envoy, the last line being repeated as a chorus. In music, a ballade is an instrumental piece based on a story; a form used in piano works by Chopin and Liszt.