It was not at all uncommon for Franz Schubert to make revisions—either quite far-reaching or near inconsequential—of his Lieder after finishing them. It was not nearly so often his practice to do the same kind of overhaul on pieces of instrumental music. The Piano Sonata in E flat major, D. 568 (sometimes called "No. 7" on account of its placement in the Breitkopf and Härtel complete works edition; it was not seventh in order of composition) is one of these rare cases, being a re-composition of a more-or-less finished piano sonata in D flat (D. 567) that Schubert wrote during the summer of 1817. The version in E flat may possibly have been crafted as late as 1825 or 1826, but was most likely written in 1817 along with all the other piano sonatas of that summer. The D flat major version is not totally finished—the most glaring deficiency is the lack of a minuet or scherzo—and so it is tempting to think that Schubert abandoned the piece specifically because he had decided to immediately rebuild it, lock, stock and barrel, a whole tone higher. Over the course of this "transposition" Schubert improved the piece considerably, expanding and refining his initial take on the material.

The opening movement, Allegro moderato, is easy-going in the best and purest "Classical" manner; the very first melody is something that Mozart easily could have penned. If the E flat Sonata is, in its finished form, a work from 1817, then this is certainly among Schubert's finest teenage efforts in sonata-allegro form; it positively sparkles from start to finish, and the development section is polished in a way quite unlike the ordinary early-Schubert development.

An Andante molto in G minor follows, and then a Minuet whose trio section is in fact the very same music used for the trio of the second of the Two Scherzos, D. 593 (the D flat major Scherzo).

The Allegro moderato finale surpasses anything that Schubert had yet done (up to mid-1817) in the way of piano sonata finales, a movement-type that caused him great trouble during these, his formative years. The opening tune is a pleasantly impish little notion, but, in typical Schubert fashion, more time is spent perusing the B flat minor second theme and its spin-offs. During the development section Schubert provides a bit of new melody to ensure that interest doesn't flag.

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