  A new strategy in deriving the Lense-Thirring effect, in the weak field and
slow motion approximation of general relativity, on the orbital elements of a
test body in the field of different central rotating sources exhibiting axial
symmetry is presented. The approach adopted in the present work, in the case of
a perfectly spherical source, leads for all the Keplerian orbital elements of
the freely falling particle to the well known Lense-Thirring equations. The
case of a central nonspherical body is also worked out.
