
In November 1970, Joshua Rifkin released a recording called Scott Joplin: Piano Rags on the classical label Nonesuch, which featured as its second track "The Entertainer". The centerpiece of the original cover art featured a minstrel show caricature of a black man in formal attire on a theater stage. The copyright on "The Entertainer" was registered December 29, 1902, along with two other Joplin rags, "A Breeze from Alabama" and " Elite Syncopations", all three of which were published by John Stark & Son of St. Stark issued an arrangement of the piece for two mandolins and a guitar. Suggested by the rag's dedication to "James Brown and his Mandolin Club", author Rudi Blesh wrote that "some of the melodies recall the pluckings and the fast tremolos of the little steel-stringed plectrum instruments". Joplin may have performed the piece at a fundraiser in Parsons, Kansas on April 27, 1904. "It is a jingling work of a very original character, embracing various strains of a retentive character which set the foot in spontaneous action and leave an indelible imprint on the tympanum".

Rosenfeld described "The Entertainer" as "the best and most euphonious" of Joplin's compositions to that point. Louis Globe-Democrat, contemporary composer Monroe H. The B section contains an indication that the melody is to be played an octave higher on the repeat. It is primarily set in the key of C major however, for the C section (commonly referred to as the 'Trio'), it modulates to F major, then transitions back to C major for the D section.

Its structure is: Intro–AA–BB–A–CC–Intro2–DD. "The Entertainer" is sub-titled "A Rag Time Two Step", which was a form of dance popular until about 1911, and a style which was common among rags written at the time.
