Kemal Batanay, one of the most talented composers of traditional Turkish music in classical form and style, benefited from many worthy masters and he has 55 music compositions in several forms. Batanay is also a well-known artist with his calligraphies as well as his compositions and there are 129 pieces of his calligraphic art in various museums and private collections. Describing Batanay as “an unpretentious poet who succeeded in singing the words in his music”, Muhittin Serin underlines Batanay’s competence in literature. In addition, Serin quotes 19 poems of Batanay to illustrate his competence on Turkish language. Serin’s expression, which points to Batanay’s identity as a poet, is also parallel to the fact that symbolist poetry attaches great importance to musicality, which emerged from the idea that puts music above all. Text and music are intertwined in sema ayini which is the product of the Mevlevi Sufi approach, in which symbolization dominates exposition. Therefore, this type of music composition might have been supported by non-musical elements by a composer like Batanay, who produced a considerable number of works on calligraphy and poetry. In the late 19th century, the symbolist movement, which emerged in French poetry, went hand in hand with music due to its nature which symbolizes poetry as a song of the heart. Connotation is one of the basic concepts in symbolist art. Its basic principle urges that the implicit narration of symbolism is provided by the slow invocation of the object or its mood without the object being called. Coexistence of music and lyrics, and emphasis on connotation in symbolism suggest that there may be reflections of the movement in religious music works, where symbolic narration is used extensively. Batanay produced valuable works not only in the field of music but also in other arts with literary value. Consequently, it is considered that he might have used a common narrative of all these areas in his works. This study examines how the composer used the concepts and the characters of the text in relation with the connotations towards the symbolic narration of the ritual in his composition. The analysis part depicts the poems, their translations in Turkish, and the makam structures accompanying the poems. It further interprets how the modulations throughout the composition supported the symbolic narration of the poem and the ritual. In accordance with the analysis, it is concluded that Batanay chose to express individual characters and subjects by using different makam structures; this resulted in divisions in the poems within themselves. and the semantic changes between verses are reflected in the modulations of the composition. In the first movement of the composition, Batanay utilizes different makams when the poem refers to God and human. Throughout the progression of human’s spiritual journey towards the highest level of being, the composition moves towards makams with tonics of higher pitches. For the emerging symbols and concepts of God, human, mystery, mutribân, Mohammad, Rumi and repentance, he uses new musical colors. It can be inferred that these concepts are reflected in the makam usage of the composer. When the text has the word mystery (sır) for instance, the makam structure is changed so that the previous makam is hidden, in parallel with the semantics of the word in issue. This corresponds to the hierarchical equality of music and text in the process of composition. In addition to composer’s approach that differences between these symbols and concepts are supported by different makam structures, the utilization of each makam structure also emphasizes the same symbol in a different way. For example; in the verses that praise Rumi, it is seen that the Hicazkar makam structure was diversified with the structures of Hüzzam and Hicaz Rumi makams. In the verses of the third movement which praise Mohammad, on the other hand, there is no diversity or color interrupting Evc makam, letting the makam structure remain absolutely intact, - as he undoubtedly acknowledges that Mohammad is the servant and messenger of God according to the belief in Islam. This usage of Evc makam only occurs in the transition of the first movement throughout the whole composition and this transition contextually symbolizes Mohammad, which shows the unity of symbolic expression and makam usage. Semantic contents of the words are supported with the music structure of the composition in Batanay’s approach. Consequently, it is possible to consider that his literary and religious sentiment is reflected in the symbolist approach in his compositions and his calligraphic artworks. At this point, the symbolism and its basic principles underline the points of connection between literature and music, and provide a favorable ground for enhancing the work’s semantic structure and increasing the comprehensibility of its context through various details. For the development of comparative studies in the field of approaches to composition, more research in line with this study should be conducted.