The 12 German dances, D. 128, are the earliest extant set of dances by Franz Schubert. This set is studied for figures that appear commonly in his later dance music: a free and expressive treatment of ^6 in the major key, ascending gestures in cadences, and V9 harmonies. The conclusion is that Schubert's treatment of these figures in D. 128 is more conservative than it is in certain of his dances from the 1820s. In an appendix, comparisons are made with two later sets: 8 Ländler, D. 378 (1816), and 16 Deutsche Tänze, D. 783 (1825).