Duruflé dedicated this, his first organ composition, to his friend, teacher, and supervisor in the organ loft of Saint-Clotilde, Charles Tournemire. Like Tournemire's music, this piece employs a modal style (reflecting, in part, Duruflé's interest in plainchant). Little flurries of notes rise from a slow, quiet introduction, and soon the swirling, pulsing scherzo begins in earnest, keeping to low dynamic levels and initially calling to mind French will-o'-the-wisp music. A second theme, slightly chant-like, emerges, but just as the music seems to be winding down, the initial scurrying material resumes. This gives way to a slow, mysterious chorale speckled with fragments of the fast main melody. The chorale rises in volume, pitch, and thickness, with the initial A section rhythm now throbbing below. Soon the entire A section returns for a repeat, only to surrender to a confident restatement of the B section, now providing a slow, glowing, mystical coda. Duruflé later orchestrated this work.

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