With Leonin's work, the process of elimination of the melodic function of the tenor was complete. With its arrangement of voices and the rhythmically organized character of the duplum, Leonin's organum obscured the original purpose of the chant to such a point that it is now important only as a starting point for the addition of the second voice. Many of his melodic patterns were triadic, something not heard in chant melodies previously.
Leonin employed two techniques. In one, the plainsong melody is in enormously long notes and the organal part free and unmeasured in rhythm, with very complex melismata. In the other, which was called discantus style, the two parts move note for note, in rhythmic modes or patterns derived from troubadour music. The free melismatic style tends to be employed when the original plainsong melody is syllabic, the discantus technique when the plainchant is lyrically elaborate.