The Six épigraphes antiques (1914) are actually a reworking of incidental music Debussy wrote for a single performance of 12 of Louÿs' Chansons de Bilitis—staged as a recitation with "living tableaux"—on February 7, 1901. In reworking the incidental score (for two flutes, two harps, and celesta) into the Épigraphes, Debussy retained only about half of the original music. As might be expected with music originally intended to accompany a theatrical presentation, all of the Épigraphes are highly atmospheric.

"Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d'été" (For Invoking Pan, God of the Summer Wind) depicts a languid summer day. The movement opens with a melody that evokes Pan playing his pipes and unfolds in a perfectly symmetrical arch (ABCBA) form. "Pour un tombeau sans nom" (For a Tomb Without Name) is a highly chromatic though subtle elegy. "Pour que la nuit soit propice" (So That the Night May be Propitious) is an expressive nocturne in a condensed sonata form. "Pour la danseuse aux crotales" (For the Dancer with Castanets) evokes its original instrumention with harp-like keyboard figuration; Debussy depicts the castanets with brief ornamental figures. "Pour l'Egyptienne" (For the Egyptian) is marked by a particularly improvisatory character; its ornate, dissonant quality anticipates the Night Music from Bartók's Out of Doors Suite (1926). The etude-like "Pour remercier la pluie au matin" (For Thanking the Morning Rain) is dominated by rapid chromatic figuration accompanied by a wide variety of melodic material.

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