In 1846, Hector Berlioz conducted two concerts in Budapest to popularize his compositions. For this occasion, as it was usual in his era, he composed a few pieces for Hungarian melodies to win the favor of the audience. One of these pieces was an adaptation of the Rákóczi March that immediately became the favorite one of the audience as he noted in his memoirs: "...the hall was shaken by unprecedented shouting and stamping of feet. (…) We had to start again but on the second occasion, too, the audience could hardly or not at all control themselves, just like on the first occasion." With some modifications, he included this composition later in La damnation de Faust.
The Berlioz version has become a popular folk-music selection in Hungary, especially for weddings. The March is played at state and military celebrations and is the official inspection march of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The tune was used for decades as the morning signal of Kossuth Rádió at the beginning of the daily broadcast.