Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Keynote

Keynote , noun

1.
(Music) The tonic or first tone of the scale in which a piece or passage is written; the fundamental tone of the chord, to which all the modulations of the piece are referred; -- called also key tone.
2.
The fundamental fact or idea; that which gives the key; as, the keynote of a policy or a sermon.