Maple Leaf Rag to its publication, Joplin anticipated that the piece would be a success—he told Arthur Marshall that "The Maple Leaf will make me the king of ragtime composers". The exact circumstances which led to publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag" are unknown, and there are versions of the event which contradict each other. After approaching several publishers, Joplin signed a contract with John Stillwell Stark on August 10, 1899 for a $0.01 royalty on all sales of the rag, with a minimum sales price of $0.25. The "Maple Leaf Rag" was published between August 10 and September 20, 1899, when the
Maple Leaf Rag revival of the 1970s brought it back to mainstream public notice once again. The "Maple Leaf Rag" is associated with the city of Sedalia, Missouri, although there is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence there before 1904. Joplin arrived in Sedalia in 1894 as a touring musician and stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall, who later became one of Joplin's students and a ragtime composer in his own right. Joplin played as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia, among them the "Maple Leaf Club". It is possible that the rag