Józef Koffler’s output as a composer, though not very large, is nevertheless quite varied. His teaching duties at the PTM Conservatoire, his journalistic and editorial work, as well his involvement in Lwów’s social and cultural life, meant that Koffler could only compose music in rare moments of leisure, especially during the summer holidays. By 1939 his catalogue comprised 24 opus numbers, apart from some pieces of a lower calibre (including functional and occasional music) that were not officially listed.

All of Koffler’s output should undoubtedly be considered as extremely significant to twentieth-century Polish music history. His name triggers associations, first and foremost, with dodecaphony – the revolutionary composition technique invented by Arnold Schönberg. Koffler was the first artist to apply it in Poland and most likely in the whole of Central-Eastern Europe.