Pauline Lebbe's analysis of Belgian art songs set to symbolist texts offers valuable insights into how mythological thinking adapted to modernist artistic contexts. During the period between the 1880s and the Second World War, Belgium became a creative crucible where literary symbolism—with its emphasis on suggestion, evocation, and transcendence—found powerful musical expression through art songs that created new mythological frameworks for understanding human experience.

The collaboration between musicians, artists, critics, theorists, and concert organisers described by Lebbe exemplifies how cultural mythologies emerge not from isolated genius but from complex creative ecosystems. These interconnected networks facilitated the cross-pollination of ideas across different artistic disciplines, producing innovative works that responded to the spiritual and existential challenges of modernity while drawing on both traditional and newly invented symbolic languages.

Symbolist art songs, though less well-known than their literary and visual counterparts, represent a significant adaptation of mythological thinking to modern artistic forms. By combining evocative texts with sophisticated musical settings, these compositions created multisensory experiences that functioned similarly to traditional mythological narratives—providing frameworks for understanding aspects of experience that resist literal description while evoking emotional responses that transcend rational comprehension.

The rich collaborative environment Lebbe describes demonstrates how mythological thinking continued to thrive in ostensibly secular, modernist contexts. Rather than abandoning symbolic understanding in favour of scientific rationalism, these artists created new mythologies that addressed the psychological and spiritual needs of a rapidly changing society. This cultural moment offers valuable perspective on how mythological thinking continually reinvents itself to remain relevant in new contexts, adapting traditional symbolic languages while developing innovative forms of expression.