Like most of Chopin's other études, this work is in ternary form (A–B–A). The A section is of remarkable melodic construction. Musicologist Hugo Leichtentritt (1874–1951) believes its asymmetric structure, (5 + 3) + (5 + 7) bars, to be highly relevant to the impact of the melody. The first five bars can be seen as a contraction of 4 + 4 bars with the final clause (consequent) of the prototypal eight-bar period replaced by bar 5. Italian composer and editor Alfredo Casella (1883–1947) notices the Pelléas-like effect of the oscillating major thirds in bars 4–5 anticipating Debussy by more than half a century. According to Leichtentritt bars 6–8 with its stretto and final ritenuto can be interpreted as the contraction of a four-bar clause. The melody is accompanied by oscillating semiquavers played by the right hand in a manner reminiscent of the "Adagio cantabile" movement of Beethoven's "Sonata Pathétique" while the syncopated rhythm in the left hand somewhat counteracts the simple "naiveté" of this oscillation. The melody itself is characterized by repeated notes. A novelty are the distinct crescendo and diminuendo signs allocated "polyphonically" and sometimes even differing in the two voices played by the right hand.