Although refined from 18th-century military music, Schubert's marches also consist of regular alternations of basic chords, and their rhythms are often based on dotted figures or dactyls (long-short-short). The themes, too, possess a valiant character derived from the arpeggiation of tonic chords. The theme of this work, too, was likely conceived with a loud tutti in mind, and similar figures often adorn the openings of symphonies (e.g., No. 3, D 200, and No. 8, D 944). The overall structure consists of three parts—main section, trio, and main section—each with repetitions, and both the main section and the trio adopt an A-B-A ternary form.

Tonally, while it possesses an orderly structure centered on the tonic and dominant, it is unusual in that each internal section shows a strong inclination towards various mediant keys (keys a third away). The C major chord, heard as early as measure 9, foreshadows the extraordinary sonic space of this work. Similar expansions of sound are frequently observed in songs and orchestral works from the same period, and generally count among the characteristics at the forefront of radical experimentation around 1817–18. Indeed, D 606 is the march with the most exceptional sound among those written by Schubert.

Even within such a soundscape, each section is well-balanced. For example, in the main section, from measure 31 onwards, the theme is recapitulated, but the D major chord, shifted two steps towards the flat side (which was an F-sharp minor chord two degrees higher in the exposition), sounding at measure 35 is a common practice in sonata recapitulations. In the trio, a continuous oscillating motion unfolds around the tonic and dominant chords. This is likely an imitation of a military drum roll. While primarily soft, it is characterized by clearer dynamic contrasts than the main section.

Marches were a popular genre widely performed in 18th-century German-speaking regions and France. They originally accompanied military marches with wind instruments, using simple 8- or 16-bar phrases, but eventually became refined within the piano genre. These established marches were exclusively performed in homes, with no evidence of them actually being used for marching. For Schubert, the 'march' was primarily a genre for piano four-hands. All 17 pieces written for four-hands were published during his lifetime and sold well. Conversely, only two works written for solo piano were completed, including the present work. Like many other marches, the autograph manuscript is lost, but it is believed to have been written in 1818.