The Transylvanian Dances have an interesting history, having begun life as Bartók's Sonatina for piano, a three-movement work of Classical structure founded upon five folk dances. However, the composer used his themes not in the manner of straightforward arrangements, as he had done with so many other folk melodies, but as music with a developmental yield. In fashioning the orchestral version Bartók seemed to have taken a cue from André Gertler, who adapted the Sonatina for violin and piano, with the approval of the composer.

While the sonatina carried subtitles to each of its three movements (I. "Bagpipers"; II. "Bear Dance"; III. "Finale"), the Transylvanian Dances use only tempo markings to denote its three panels, and, of course, retained the same tempo indications from the sonatina—respectively, Allegretto, Moderato, and Allegro Vivace. The first movement in the Transylvanian Dances uses two folk dance tunes. The first is exotic and playful, the second faster, with ethnic flavors sounding as much Russian as Rumanian. The opening dance is then reprised, but in a more deliberate and boisterous manner.

The middle movement uses but one dance melody, a lively attractive creation that lasts a bit less than a minute. The finale is the longest movement, having a duration of about two-and-a-half minutes. Like the opening panel it features two folk dance tunes, the first a joyous, busy theme whose festive manner seems to augur a colorful, perhaps even bombastic close. The second theme is exotic and just as joyous, featuring imaginative writing for the woodwinds. The themes are reprised and the work ends jubilantly, and without the least bombast.

The difference between the orchestral and piano versions is relatively small, with the former, not surprisingly, offering larger washes of sound and a greater range of colors, and the latter having a spikier, more animated character.

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