C.P.E. Bach adapted this work from a harpsichord concerto he had already written, perhaps earlier in 1753; a cello treatment also exists. While this may seem to be unusually versatile music to serve so many distinctive instruments, Bach took great care in translating the solo part to flute. For example, where the cello and harpsichord may indulge in jittery sixteenth-note runs along the top of the staff, the flute outlines the same melodic contour, but in more legato quarter notes or, at times, half notes dissolving into trills. This is very much a concerto for flute, not opportunistic recycling.

The opening Allegro bounds out with great verve and typical restlessness, veering from loud to soft but preferring high dynamics. The flute's entrance, though based on some of the same material, brings a more lyrical character to the music; this proceeds in sharp contrast to the orchestral contribution; tutti passages and brief interjections during the solos remain quite vigorous. The second solo passage is more virtuosic than the first, full of perpetual-motion, arpeggiated passagework. The third solo initially plays with trills and grace notes, then indulges in a broader treatment of the theme, but ultimately returns to more complex figurations before retiring to allow the orchestra one last statement of the main thematic material.

The second movement is marked Largo con sordini, mesto. Unlike the good-natured first movement, this one brings out the sensitive, melancholy nature of the minor key, employing a moaning, sighing theme built from an ascending minor third and descending minor seconds. The flute takes up this melody and pursues it over the course of the movement, alternating with the muted string orchestra, with relatively little development. This is one of the composer's most touching, unaffected compositions, culminating in a particularly sad flute cadenza followed by a final, measured orchestral statement of the theme.

The finale, Allegro assai, jolts us out of the slow movement's mood with its spirited triplet rhythms and pulsing chordal figures. The flute, as in the first movement, begins with more lyrical material, but it's gradually persuaded to join the orchestra in its joyful agitation.

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