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How did Gregorian chant provide material for medieval and Renaissance polyphonic music?

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Educational diagram showing the human voice-producing apparatus, including a side view of the head and neck with labeled tongue, larynx, vocal cords, and trachea, plus a top-down view of the vocal cords during inhalation and sound production. Labels explain the roles of resonators, vocal cord positioning, and cartilage structures in speech. — vocal music The parts of human anatomy that produce vocal sound.

Gregorian chant served as a foundational element for medieval and Renaissance polyphonic music primarily through the technique of the cantus firmus.

In this practice, a pre-existing Gregorian chant melody was utilized as a structural base for a new composition. The development of this technique evolved over several centuries:

Organum: During the 11th and 12th centuries, composers created organum by adding a second melody (duplum) to a principal voice (vox principalis) derived from plainchant.1
Motets: By the 13th century, the polyphonic motet featured the plainchant cantus firmus in the tenor voice, which served as the foundation for other independent vocal parts.1
Renaissance Compositions: During the Renaissance, masses and motets continued to use the cantus firmus in the tenor, though it was no longer restricted to the lowest voice. Composers also employed techniques such as ornamentation or paraphrasing the chant in the top voice.1

Beyond its structural role, the plainchant provided both musical and symbolic significance to these polyphonic works, anchoring them within the liturgical tradition of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.12