The Romantic period embraced the rise of character pieces that took the form of short musical genres, such as Songs Without Words, Etudes, and Preludes. Such small pieces were the ideal choice to depict the composer's own ideas, unrestrained by well-established norms and customs. The goal was to depict a thought, rather than a story; an intimate feeling, rather than a drama. Bonis' Prelude in Eb has a calm and soothing character. The melody is mostly written for the left hand and the musical lines are long, spanning multiple measures at a time.