In a review of Henri José's Le tzigane for Gil Blas in 1899, Gaston Serpette encapsulated the essential qualities of a great music-hall ballet score. M. Henri Jose, he writes, “has perfectly understood that in a music hall, one needs above all to capture the attention of a public that comes far more for its own amusement than in search of great art. Also, all of his pieces are always melodically and rhythmically clear. One effortlessly follows this music that accurately underlines all of the libretto's situations.” To be a success, ballet music needed to be entertaining and functional. Although creativity and the ability to write arresting dramatic scenes were valued, music-hall composers earned the highest praise if they were able to write music that followed the contours of the plot and that was upbeat, danceable, colorful, and melodically appealing. The excerpts of reviews included below represent only a small sample, but their similarity is revealing.

Popular ballet music was light music. It was written for commercial venues as ephemeral entertainment that would appeal to as large and diverse an audience as possible. Music-hall scores were not intended for concert-hall performance or intellectual contemplation but rather as supports for pantomime and dance. Ballet music fit in with other types of music heard at the halls: polkas, waltzes, and marches played by the orchestra between circus or theatrical performances, music for song-and-dance routines, and exotic musical acts presented during intermissions. Music-hall ballet music was therefore closely tied to its function: its form was dictated by generic requirements and its tone by performance context and audience expectations.