This very short piece, one of the last Duruflé composed for solo organ, is based on an eight-note melody corresponding to the bells that ring every hour at Soissons Cathedral. Duruflé presents it in such an ornate version, however, that the note sequence is submerged in a low register, functioning almost as the ground bass in a passacaglia or chaconne. Although Duruflé adheres to solid principles of fugal construction, the effect is less of intertwining melodic lines than of a rolling, shimmering sound gradually building to a crescendo, then breaking off into a concluding series of grand chords.

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