Asteroids was commissioned by Margo Halstead during her tenure as carillonneur of the University of Michigan. It was published as part of her series, Carillon Music from The University of Michigan, with funding assistance from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, at the University of Michigan.

The piece begins and ends with a jagged fanfare, perhaps suggesting the craggy terrain of an asteroid. The middle section features a slow melody in the pedals under a high figuration which twinkles in the background. After the return of the music from the beginning, the piece concludes with a short figuration derived (intentionally) from the piano introduction to the Hoagy Carmichael song Stardust.

—The GCNA