While discussing "All Things Must Pass" with music journalist Timothy White in 1987, Harrison recalled that his "starting point" for the composition was Robertson's "The Weight" – a song that had "a religious "and" a country feeling to it". Musically, the verses of "All Things Must Pass" are set to a logical climb within the key of E; the brief choruses form a departure from this, with their inclusion of a B minor chord rather than the more expected major voicing. Author Ian Inglis notes that the composition incorporates the same "modes, cadences and suspensions" found in Band songs such as "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".