What do you call a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something?

A serenade is a musical performance which originated in the 1640's in Italy delivered in honor of a woman. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian word 'sereneta', which itself derives from the Latin 'serenus'. Sense influenced by Italian 'sera' - 'evening', from Latin 'sera', fem. of 'serus' - 'late'.

In the oldest usage, which survives in informal form to the present day, a serenade is a musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, person of rank or other which originated to be honored. The classic usage would be from a lover to his lady love through a window. It was considered an evening piece, one to be performed on a quiet and pleasant evening, which would be performed in the morning.

The custom of serenading in this manner began in the Medieval era, and the word "serenade" as commonly used in current English is related to this custom. Music performed followed no one particular form, except that it was typically sung by one person accompanying himself on a portable instrument, most likely a guitar, flute or other plucked instruments.