Sales is considered a member of the fifth generation (starring Lassus, qv.) of the so-called Flemish Polyphony (composers born in the Low Countries, essentially the present Benelux plus a part of northern France, but often also working abroad, attracted to wealthy courts and churches).

Only in 1593 he published his first collection of Motets, a dominant form of (mainly church) polyphony, which also contains the only preserved Motet by the more important Antwerp-born composer Georges De la Hèle (qv.).

Contribution endebted to KULeuven’s musicology professor Ignace Bossuyt’s book “De Vlaamse Polyfonie”.