“La Borinqueña” is a reference to the original native inhabitant’s word for the island “Boriken” or “Borinquen”. The music was first composed in 1867 as a dance, with romantic lyrics. The revolutionary and poetess Lola Rodríguez de Tió wrote words to accompany it the following year, but they were deemed too subversive to be adopted by the government, so new ones were written by Manuel Fernández Juncos. (The original lyrics are used by the independentist movement). The anthem was officially adopted in 1952 on becoming a Commonwealth of the United States, but the lyrics weren’t made official until 1977.
Special thanks to: Juan Hernandez for some of this information.