Experimental measurements are reported for the temperature dependence of the vibrational lifetime, T-1, of the asymmetric CO stretching mode of tungsten hexacarbonyl in supercritical ethane at constant density from just above the critical temperature to substantially higher temperatures. T-1 is found initially to increase with temperature along an isochore (reaching a maximum at about 70 degrees above the critical point of ethane), and then subsequently to decrease. Using a recent classical theory of vibrational relaxation, we attempt to rationalize the T-1 data. This behavior can be semiquantitatively reproduced by the theory if quantum corrections to the classical rate expressions are assumed to be temperature independent in the limit when the transition energy is much greater than thermal energy. In this case, the theory indicates that the initial increase in T-1 with temperature arises because of a competition between properties of the solvent which are changing rapidly as the temperature is raised above the critical temperature. At sufficiently high temperature, properties of the solvent vary slowly with temperature, and the explicit temperature dependence of the vibrational relaxation dominates, producing a decrease in T-1 with increasing temperature. The predictions of the theory are also examined when other postulated forms of the quantum correction factors are used, and the implications of these results for theoretical approaches to vibrational relaxation are discussed. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(97)50447-8].