Musically, I composed a sort of big, diversified chorale, strewn with counterpoint in the manner of J. S. Bach.As he further explained elsewhere, the piece is not intended to imitate the literal sounds of a locomotive, but rather to convey a sense of the visual impression and the physical pleasure ("une jouissance physique") he experienced with trains.

"[5] Harry Halbreich notes that "Eschewing anecdote and the noise music dear to the Italian Futurists or the Mossolov of a certain Steel Foundry, to which it has been wrongly compared, it is a monolith carved out of full granite, as solid as a figured chorale by Bach (its true model)".

"Harry Halbreich quotes Honegger: "In Pacific I pursued a very abstract and pure idea, giving the impression of a mathematical acceleration of rhythm, while the movement itself slows down.

Musically, I composed a kind of great varied chorale, criss-crossed with 'alla breve' counterpoints in the first part, which gives an impression of Johann Sebastian Bach.

A 1949 award-winning French film, Pacific 231, directed by Jean Mitry, used the orchestral work as the soundtrack for a tribute to the steam locomotive, and included close-up footage of the SNCF 231E 24 ex Nord 3.1194.