sequence

sequence, in music, a melodic or chordal figure repeated at a new pitch level (that is, transposed), thus unifying and developing musical material. The word sequence has two principal uses: the medieval sequence in the liturgy of the Latin mass and the harmonic sequence in tonal music. In medieval music and literature, the sequence was a Latin text associated with a specific chant melody, to be sung at mass between the Alleluia and the reading...