Continuous pieces with an abundance of irregularly broken chords originated in French lute music of the 17th century.
[3] In his 1972 study of French lute music, scholar Wallace Rave compiled a list of features he believed to be characteristic of style brisé.
[6] Early 17th century examples include the collection Le trésor d’Orphée (1600) by Antoine Francisque, Robert Ballard's lute books of 1611 and 1614, and other publications of the time.
Idiomatic lute figurations found in such pieces were later transferred to the harpsichord in the works of numerous composers: particularly important examples include Louis Couperin's unmeasured preludes, Johann Jakob Froberger's allemandes, free preludes by Jean-Henri d'Anglebert and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, and others.
Johann Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis, which was among the most successful keyboard publications of the time, included a number of variations in style brisé.