The steampunk aesthetic in fiction is meant to be modern technology using older parts. Steampunk Pavane does the same in music, by playing sounds both ancient and modern using older instruments. It starts out with harmony and melody that would be expected in the 16th and 17th centuries. Then a modern section comes in, interlocking with this ancient-sounding pavane. After the interlocking parts play, the ancient music fades away and new parts then take their place.
The original inspiration for this piece was actually the development of FreeBSD, a free operating system usually meant for servers. It started off as a modification to Unix, then had the Unix parts removed and replaced with original software. FreeBSD still resembles the Unix of old, but is running entirely on newer parts.