Messiaen's Méditations have a particular theoretical importance, for the work marks the formalization of Messiaen's compositional language. Indeed, as organist Gillian Weir makes clear, for Messiaen, music was a kind of language, one that could be made equivalent to spoken language. At the time of the Méditations, Messiaen invented a system, a "communicable language" in which notes corresponded to individual letters of the alphabet, and specific motives were connected to certain verbs and nouns. This language makes its appearance in parts of the Méditations. Though not really comprehensible to the listener it is nonetheless important to note, for it exemplifies the composer's fascination with numbers and patterns and with the notion of communicating a universal message. The Méditations contain virtually all of the touchstones of Messiaen's compositional style, including the use of modes, plainsong, birdsong, Hindu and Greek rhythms, careful coloration, and the religious symbolism of the number three, resulting in the work's nine-movement structure. The work is concerned thematically with the Trinity, and in exploring this theme Messiaen juxtaposes unaltered Gregorian chant melodies and moments of suspended time with virtuosic, jubilant, rhythmically vivacious passages.

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