Serenade is primarily about rhythm and tempo. In each of the three movements the music will give the impression of two or more simultaneous tempos, either through syncopation or polyrhythms.

"Contention" is in some ways the thickest of the three. Beginning with a polytonal flavor and progressing to fairly dense chromatic harmony, the piece presents melodic fragments in various tempi; which is the beat and which is the syncopation is not always obvious.

"Lament" is a long arching melody with a constantly throbbing accompaniment. Both foreground and background seem to independently change tempo, but in reality they are following a steady beat unheard by anyone not watching the conductor.

"Dances" is a virtuosic perpetual motion; the steady sixteenth notes are grouped in continually changing and often contradictory patterns. It is mostly diatonic and in fact consists almost entirely of octaves and unisons.