The concerto was written specifically for the Böhm flute, analogous to the standard concert-styled flute found in contemporary Western orchestras.
The work features a highly florid flute section, a rather uncommon phenomenon at the time as the flute was both a new instrument in France and seen as more so a background instrument in late-19th century orchestration.
Thus, the fact that it plays a leading role makes this concerto a rarity and one of the early examples of the flute gaining a serious presence as a solo instrument.
The concerto originally featured an extended cadenza included with movement three, although no such documentation survives in the present.
[1] The concerto utilizes the typical structure for a concerto, consisting of three movements which features a lively beginning, a slower middle section, before returning to the first movement's tempo.