Inspired by the genre of similar works from the Romantic style period, the music of Nocturne is informed by twentieth-century theory. Frequently changing irregular meters, the exploitation of close intervals (major and minor seconds and sevenths), and octave displacement of melodic motives and figures are some of the contemporary compositional techniques which set Nocturne apart. Key relations are established by root movement of the third, spelled enharmonically: G-flat Lydian, D Major, and A Major. Feathered-beaming notation of a right-hand accelerando and ritardando is also featured in the score.

The essential serenity of the music of Nocturne is contrasted by majestic outbursts of exuberance and power. The left hand rhythmic texture of ceaselessly undulating eighth notes is interrupted by the skipping of thirty-second notes, suggesting the essential symmetry of ripples on a pond, disrupted only by things organic floating—or moving—on the surface. Though highly chromatic, Nocturne is nevertheless a readily accessible concert piece, as aesthetically satisfying for all audiences as it is for the advanced pianist.