Both Chou Wen-chung and Jean-Charles François have analyzed the structure and timbre features of "Ionisation" in detail. András Wilheim has noted that only the last 17 measures of "Ionisation" include musical tones of the "traditional tonal system", where any five successive chords contain the 12 tones of the chromatic scale. Holder writes, “The reconceptualization of pitch was one of Varese's great insights. He was able to reinvent the role of concert percussion in a radical and refreshing manner, primarily by establishing pitch relationships between instruments of individually indeterminate pitch… it's performance is a reenactment of a great rite of passage for what was then a fresh and previously unrecognized musical ensemble.”