Of all the fixed forms, the ballade in three stanzas was for Machaut and his followers the noblest and
most exalted—and musically, therefore, the most elaborate. In the manuscripts Machaut oversaw, the
section containing ballades was headed, “Ci comencent les balades ou il ha chant,” meaning, “Here begin
the ballades or high song” (recall the grand chant of the trouvères). “Highness” (hauteur, whence
“haughty”) was expressed in the traditional way: by the use of an especially melismatic style. The ballade
De toutes flours (“Of all the fruits and flowers in my garden”; Ex. 9-8), certainly exemplifies this.
Otherwise it is very similar to Rose, liz, both in subject matter and (no surprise) in mode.
EX. 9-8 Guillaume de Machaut, Ballade no. 31, De toutes flours