Little French quartets arrive following meal. (5)

I believe the answer is:
petit
'little' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for petit that I've seen before include "Not great" , "Insignificant amount" , "- Four is a fancy biscuit" , "- - point: tapestry stitch" , "insignificant in some cases" .)
