It's possible that the subject of this sweet motet is the Bonne de Luxembourg. The text is seeded with recurrences of the words "bonne" and "bonté" that may well be allusions to her. She was the daughter of Jean I de Luxembourg, for whom Machaut loyally served for 17 years. When his beloved Jean died, Machaut came under the care of Bonne, so he certainly had reason to write flattering music for her. This would also explain the somewhat antiseptic attitude of the narrators in the texts. Whereas it's usual for the narrators of such pieces to be begging for the union of love or, failing that, a swift, immediate death, here the narrator meekly concedes that his love for the unnamed Lady is "without base desire." So, instead of an eloquent howl of unrequited lust, he earnestly prays that "since I love her more than myself/that she may accept me as her friend." His intentions are as pure as snow. The perfectly appropriate sweetness of the music Machaut sets this with partly comes from the fact that the tenor is very audibly a rondeau, composed in the kindest style of pleasant stepwise ascents and descents. Machaut unifies the motet by writing some passages of the upper lines in similar style and the whole motet comes to share the intimate, familiar tone of the tenor. Nothing jarring occurs in the supple rhythmic exchanges of the triplum and motetus, they only sound as if they're in politely tense competition to out-praise the Lady. In a slight surprise, this tension breaks out a little when the motetus rises to a deeply felt cry, crossing the range of the triplum and singing out "of joy and tenderness," the very emotions that animate and define Trop plus est bele/Biauté parée. The motet's peaceful outflow is given a lovely final punctuation with a clever, punning gesture that Machaut makes between all three of the texts at the final cadence. Triplum and motetus sing "Amen," while the tenor in the rondeau sings "amis"; Amen/friend, a translingual pun. The two words fold together like hands in thankful prayer and the listener is willing to accept the goodliness/godliness of the adored one.

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