Meslanges harmoniques (Harmonic mixtures)
Since the Middle Ages, polyphony and various contrapuntal devices have been used to represent both the harmony of the heavens and what humans do under the heavens.
Despite its lofty aims, however, learned music in the 16th century was never far removed from popular music. French composers skilfully wrote naughty songs evoking natural processes, even employing themes from fashionable songs, sometimes with very saucy lyrics indeed, in works intended for the Church. In the instrumental realm, serious forms rubbed shoulders with the most imaginative variation pieces, as did a variety of dances whose pace and rhythms betray their peasant origins, while contrapuntal care gave compositions a remarkably opulent texture.