Voiles

The title may be translated as either veils or sails; both meanings can be connected to the musical structure (see below).

Except for some mild, localized chromaticism and a short pentatonic passage, the entire piece uses the whole-tone scale.

[1] In their published form, the Préludes have their individual titles printed not at the start, but at the end—and in parentheses.

[4] The whole-tone scale and the soft dynamics give the A and A′ sections a mysterious and eerie mood.

In the B section, the louder dynamics, the faster passage, and the more consonant and familiar pentatonic scale give the listener a break from the eerie tone, allowing a brief moment of clarity.

Pentatonic scale in Debussy's "Voiles", Préludes , Book I, no. 2, mm. 43–45. ^{[

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