There are two settings of If music be the food of love and two versions of the first setting. If music be the food of love, with a text by Colonel H. Heveningham, would become one of the composer's most popular songs. Heveningham's poem praises both music and love. The narrator wishes to hear music until he is filled with joy. His soul is moved to great pleasures and all his senses are stimulated, "Tho' yet the treat is only sound." The two versions of the first setting are similar; the differences between the two settings are drastic and interesting.

Purcell's first setting, produced in June 1692, shortly after completing The Fairy Queen, is in 2/2 meter and opens with a fluid melody in G minor. (Most editions change the meter to 4/4, which significantly alters the articulation.) At the middle of the song, Purcell increases the harmonic rhythm, changing harmony on every beat. Repetitions of text are generally set to the same melody, with minor variations, but transposed. After returning to the tonic, the song's bass part becomes very active under a dotted-rhythm melody. Appropriately, the only melisma in the song is on the word, "music." The setting of the second verse, beginning "Pleasures invade both eye and ear," is very nearly the same as that of the first.

Purcell's second setting of If music be the food of love is also in G minor. It is far more intricate and embellished than the first version, and its 4/4 meter is less broad. Syncopation and dotted rhythms in the melody create a busy atmosphere. Chromatic movement in the bass is common, and there are extended melismas on "sing" and "joy," at which point Purcell moves to the relative major (B flat). Purcell's setting of "Your eyes, your mien," is very like that in the first version, but the bass line is active and quick, and rapid, rising scales close the first half on G minor. Unlike the first setting, the second is through-composed. The second verse is in 3/8 meter and of a different character than the first. Melismas are again common, but there is more rhythmic interplay between the voice and the bass. A strong firm cadence on the relative major introduces the final line, which shifts back to the meter and flavor of the first verse although Purcell doesn't replicate any particular melody. Another lengthy melisma closes the song.

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