Choreographer Jiri Kylian, for many years artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theatre, used to make dances with an elemental sweep and a resonant humanism at their core. In the Boston Ballet’s “All Kylian” program, which presented three of his works spanning 28 years, that generosity of spirit — along with a hard-earned tenderness — shone through, but not without a detour along the way.

The oldest work on the program, “Symphony of Psalms” (1978), remains the most compelling. Set to Igor Stravinsky’s score of the same name, the dance, for 16, is at once a celebration and a requiem.