J. R. Europe, "I've got the finest man" (1912)

 James Reese Europe, "I've got the finest man" (1912). A proto-background with repeated shifts between the registers, one of the clearest examples I've seen. Overall a wedge figure with the descending line from ^3 above and the ascent below but occupying all of the final phrase. (In this it is very like van Alstyne's "Why Don't You Try": link to the post.) See at the bottom of this post for traditional Schenkerian notation.

Wedge figure with ^3 (making a V13) subbing for ^2:

van Alstyne, "When I was Twenty One. . ."

From March 2026: A post with information and links to galleries of simple ascending lines and to other essays of mine published on the Texas Scholarworks platform: link.

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Egbert van Alstyne, "When I was twenty one and you were sweet sixteen" (1911).

Harris, "Don't Blame Me"

Charles K. Harris, "Don't Blame Me" (1911). Another instance of a clearly defined proto-background, ^5/^3 here. Note the nicely presented interruption (bars 6–8) where both elements are cleanly positioned in the voice-leading--and there's even a direct resolution of the ninth in V9/V! (See bar 7, last beat, into bar 8.)

I am, however, primarily interested in the final cadence, which is one of those awkward lines that's not a line, as a very strong rising scale figure to begin the final phrase breaks as ^6 goes *down* to ^7. 

The alternate ending I have made below would have been very likely in performance, in the manner I have mentioned a number of times now based on what we know about singers' practices during this era. This song, indeed, really asks for that ending with its long scale followed by the emphatic "Don't blame me."

Grant, "When You're Away"

 Bert Grant, "When You're Away" (1911). A quite remarkable DM7 at the beginning relaxes into a clear focal tone ^5 (as A4). We are again reminded that ^7 had become rather more than a "leading tone" to ^8--that had already happened in Strauss waltzes as early as the 1860s. In the final cadence a simple ascending line with chromatic elaboration and ^3 subbing for ^2 in the dominant, making the sound of a V13.

Harris and Williams, "What's the Matter with Father?"

 Charles K. Harris and [ ] Williams, "What's the Matter with Father?" (1910) A pronounced proto-background ^5/^1 and a simple ascending line. Note ^9 as a suggested alternate for ^7 over the dominant in the final cadence.

Harris, "Somewhere"

 Charles K. Harris, "Somewhere" (1906).  An unusual feature of this publication is the inclusion of a version for a male ("barbershop") quartet. I've used it here because it is a nicely concise rendering of the music. Remember that the second tenor carries the melody (see arrow). A clear focal tone ^8 is maintained and a line moves from and to it in an incomplete mirror, or ^8-^7-^6-^7-^8 (this happens twice). I've also provided the solo voice version for the last eight bars.

Voice, final section:

van Alstyne, "Why Don't You Try"

 Egbert van Alstyne, "Why Don't You Try" (1905). This has a wedge figure with the descending element as primary, not the inner-voice ascent in the cadence. The latter is prominent, however. I don't regard these figures, which happen fairly often, as counter-examples but as additional confirmation that musicians were quite aware of the counterpoint of ascents from ^5 and descents from either ^5 or ^3 and they were willing to exploit them as seemed creatively and expressively appropriate, including by flipping the voices.  For a striking example of the latter, see this post on a song by Pauline Viardot based on a Chopin mazurka: link. (Thanks again to Poundie Burstein for telling me about the piece.)