In a comparative study, François-Bernard Mâche defines structural processes that apply equally to mythology and music as “universal procedures of treatment.” By “universal,” Mâche understands that certain formal procedures of both myth and music, due to their similar trans-historical presence in different contexts, are separate from stylistic differences and historical evolution:

Mâche's universal procedures of treatment clearly parallel Lévi-Strauss's concept of molds. These include binary opposition, repetitiveness, variability, symmetry, and numerical organization. Also related is Lévi-Strauss's notion of “bricolage,” which refers to one of the ways in which the principle of variability unfolds, but it also can be considered a relatively autonomous means of structuring. Bricolage corresponds to combinatorics, which by itself stands for combinatorial mathematics, the field concerned with problems of selection, arrangement, and operation within a finite or discrete system, and the closely related area of combinatorial geometry. For the specific purposes of comparing myth and music, I use the derivative term “combinatoriality” in place of the more mathematically oriented term “combinatorics.” Combinatoriality is defined as a type of structuring, based on a finite set of elements. Combinations of these elements form larger entities between which elements can be traded.

Twentieth-century composers developed an interest in structuring elementary material. While in the nineteenth century chord and motive served as the finite atoms of musical creation, in the twentieth century, especially with Webern, this limit shifted to a single pitch, timbre, and dynamic, all of which gained independence. “Bare” structures, such as symmetrically organized series, formed the basis of a composition; the search for the components of a single tone led composers to acoustical experiments with the sources of sound. As other structural forces began to co-exist with tonality, the prime structural molds grew increasingly independent from the logic of tonal relationships. Though these molds were always part of music, the tonal system obscured their pure and untamed forms.