How Does a Moment Last Forever marks the first collaboration between Menken and Rice in over two decades; the last time they worked together had been in the "Beauty and the Beast" musical. Menken believes that the songs he and Rice had written for the musical would not have translated well to the screen due to the structural differences between the two formats. One of at least nine significant changes made to the film specifically for the remake, "How Does a Moment Last Forever" was conceived to explain Belle's backstory. Her quest to find out her mother's fate serves, in the plot, as a foundation for
How Does a Moment Last Forever Stone" gave the song a mixed review, saying that although "How Does a Moment Last Forever" never reaches the "cinematic peaks" of "My Heart Will Go On", it sees Dion poignantly perform with bombast while having an understated conclusion. In a more negative light, "Metro" compared the song unfavourably to "Beauty and the Beast", while Mashable felt the "wistful" tune "fails to make much of an impression" even after its three versions. Celine Dion had previously recorded the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast" with R&B artist Peabo Bryson; this song helped to establish her career as a music