He devoted himself to a study of old church music, and his ideas gave rise to
Pope Pius X's Motu proprio. Appointed inspector of music education in 1889, he moved to the Brussels Conservatory to become professor of counterpoint and fugue in 1896, and director at the end of 1908. He was made maître de chapelle to the king in 1910, having been elected to the
Belgian Royal Academy in 1902.
His liturgical music is polyphonic in the
Palestrina style, but this technique conflicted with Tinel's lyrical and mystical temperament, and he had much greater success in his two concert settings of the
Te Deum, the oratorio and the religious dramas. These works indicate his total admiration for
Bach, but the orchestration, dominated by the strings, is Romantic. Tinel's piano pieces and songs recall
Schumann,
Mendelssohn and
Brahms. He published Le chant gregorien (Mechelen, 1890).
^"Catalogue des Œuvres d'Edgar Tinel (1854–1912)". MUSICA SACRA 32e année – Novembre – Décembre 1912 – Janvier 1913 MUSICA SACRA 32e année – Novembre – Décembre 1912 – Janvier 1913 – Numéros 4, 5 et 6. Retrieved 6 October 2015.