The excerpt features a flute solo that highlights the instrument's rich tone in its lower register, supported by a delicate accompaniment which gradually increases in complexity and depth as the flute melodic line rises in pitch, from mm. 21-30 (rehearsal 2)

Timbral augmentation (sustained, stable): Debussy, La Mer, i, mm. 122–31

Timbral emergence (sustained, stable): Debussy, La Mer, i, mm. 6–17