Namdev's padas are not mere poems, according to Callewaert and Lath.[28] Like other Bhakti movement sants, Namdev composed bhajans, that is songs meant to be sung to music.[29] A Bhajan literally means "a thing enjoyed or shared".[30] Namdev's songs were composed to be melodious and carry a spiritual message. They built on one among the many ancient Indian traditions for making music and singing.[29] Namdev's bhajans, note Callewaert and Lath, deployed particular species of Raag, used Bhanita (or Chhap, a stamp of the composer's name inside the poem, in his case Nama), applied a Tek (or dhruva, repeated refrain) and a meter than helps harmonise the wording with the musical instrument, all according to Sangita manuals refined from the 8th to 13th centuries.[29]

The musical genre of Namdev's literary works was a form of Prabandha – itself a very large and rich genre that includes dhrupad, thumri, tappa, geet, bhajan and other species.[31] In some species of Indian music, it is the music that dominates while words and their meaning are secondary.[32] In contrast, in Namdev's bhajan the spiritual message in the words has a central role, and the structure resonates with the singing and music.[32] The songs and music that went with Namdev's works, were usually transmitted verbally across generations, in a guru-sisya-parampara (teacher-student tradition), within singing gharanas (family-like musical units).[32]

Callewaert and Lath state that, "each single song of Namdev is a musical and textual unit and this unit is the basis for textual considerations".[33] The unit contained Antaras, which are the smallest independent unit within that can be shifted around, dropped or added, without affecting the harmony or meaning, when a bhajan is being sung with music.[34] In Namdev's songs, the dominant pattern is Caturasra, or an avarta with the 4x4 square pattern of musical matras (beat)