These three pieces introduce a number of the techniques that are typical of Satieâs early style, including the use of modes, and unresolved dissonances.
They were probably directly influenced by Chabrier´s opera Le Roi malgré lui, which Satie heard for the first time a few months before the appearance of the Sarabandes.
Satie was no doubt taken by Chabrier´s liberal use of seventh and ninth chords; but while Chabrier used these chords for colour, Satie uses them to create a sense of tonality being suspended.