Consider the first six notes in the voice and violin of examples 3.1a (mm. 3–4) and 3.1b (mm. 140–44), respectively. Most obviously, the pitch content of the melodies up to their last notes is exactly the same, requiring no intervallic adjustment to bring them into accord. In this respect, the connection between the two phrases is audible even with the one exception in the disparity between the final pitches of the two phrases. (In fact, it was not Schubert's invariable practice to retain the key when he reused material. Examples reappearing at pitch include “Der Wanderer” and the “Wanderer” Fantasy, “Die Gotter Griechenlands” and the A-minor String Quartet, and “Trockne Blumen” in the Flute Variations.) Whereas the B♭ of measure 14 in “Ave Maria” is the chord root, the equivalent place in the trio employs the chord third, D. Simultaneously with the latter, however, the B♭ occurs in the left hand of the piano. (At this point, the chord in the trio functions as the new tonic to which the exposition had earlier modulated.) The purpose behind Schubert displacing the chord's root pitch in the melody will be examined later. For now, the same B♭ at the end of the trio's phrase appears as part of the same sonority, even if that pitch is relocated in a separate timbre and octave.

Regarding nonmelodic dissimilarities, the two examples are in different meters, but their rhythmic emphasis is comparable. Considering the trio excerpt in two-measure units, the pitches B♭ and D♮ are both accentuated. This stress is indirectly underlined by the dynamics; the crescendo that swells to the trio's D♮ is replicated by the same hairpin when the “Ave Maria” phrase returns at the end of the song (ex. I1.a) to emphasize the shared melodic highpoint. The accompanying textures diverge owing to the distinctive scoring, but neither impair the listener's perception of the respective governing melodic phrases. The underlying harmonies share the same fundamental cadential motion (in B-flat major): I–V7–I.