Life of a Petal was released by Splasc(h), as was Baptism, another Battaglia solo piano album from the same year. The AllMusic review concluded: "this is a physical record with spiritual undertones, a perfect mirror for Baptism in that it shows Battaglia's mettle as both the most inventive pianist of his generation in Italy [...] and his truly eloquent compositional language." The Penguin Guide to Jazz commented that the pieces "often seem to be seeking an individual point that never arrives."
