Under the title, the challenges of this piece are stated as "Legato et souplesse de la main droite.-La main gauche chante" ("Legato and flexibility of the right hand - The left hand sings"). Many listeners, upon hearing the opening of this piece, will likely find it strikingly similar to Schubert's Lied "Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel). The continuous sound of a spinning wheel is played throughout, into which a song enters. In Absil's "La Fileuse" (The Spinner), the sound of the spinning wheel is played by the right hand, and the song by the left hand. This song features a simple melody, primarily based on five notes in A minor, as if saying "Oh, how boring. How boring." It is repeated twice and concludes rather abruptly. While Gretchen sings of her anguish and passion for her lover over ten stanzas, Absil's spinner seems to capture a single moment of boredom with her work, suggesting music closely tied to everyday life.