Philomel, a serial composition written in 1964, combines synthesizer with both live and recorded soprano voice. It is Milton Babbitt's best-known work. Planned for performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was funded by the Ford Foundation and commissioned for soprano Bethany Beardslee. Babbitt created it in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, of which he was a founding member.

On January 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot during the attack on the United States Capitol. She was part of a mob of supporters of then-outgoing U.S. president Donald Trump who stormed the United States Capitol seeking to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. At the time of her killing, Babbitt was a 35-year-old United States Air Force veteran and a supporter of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory. Despite multiple warnings not to proceed, Babbitt attempted to climb through a shattered window beside a barricaded door into the House Speaker's Lobby, at which point she was shot in the shoulder by United States Capitol Police (USCP) Lieutenant Michael Byrd. After a USCP emergency response team administered aid, Babbitt was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died from her injuries. Although some media reports described Babbitt as unarmed at the time of the shooting, a crime scene examination report revealed that a pocketknife was found in Babbitt's pants pocket. The USCP deemed that the shooting was "lawful and within Department policy" and "potentially saved Members [of Congress] and staff from serious injury and possible death". Babbitt has been considered a martyr by Trump and his supporters. In May 2025, a wrongful death lawsuit was settled with Babbitt's family for nearly $5 million.