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Claude Debussy alluded to specific influences of past French composers in comments on his late music, and in letters concerning his etudes of 1915 and in the forward to their publication he singled out both Francois Couperin and Frederic Chopin. In a 1918 essay, Debussy’s longtime friend, Robert Godet, emphasized the influence of Chopin’s etudes on those of Debussy. However, Godet did not provide analysis or explanation, and his comparison merely couples the same technical difficulties, for example, thirds, sixths, chromatic writing, and octaves, between the two composers, which are called “equivalents.” Later scholars, in comparing the two sets, have dealt mainly with issues of form, harmony, melody, voice leading, and pedaling, thus stressing contrasts more than similarities. I will show that by examining certain pianistic gestures (including figures, textures, rhythmic writing, formal elements, and affects), Godet’s pairings exhibit much more in common than previously thought. Indeed, Debussy’s etudes often grapple with a similar idea, motive, focus of difficulty, or structural quality as Chopin. In addition, both sets of etudes offer specific technical challenges that extend to the entire piano output of each composer. This makes the sets of etudes not only valuable for the performer of these composers’ music, but also valuable from a pedagogical point of view. In this document, I will present the equivalent pairs of etudes, discuss the applications of each etude’s technical issue in the composers’ other repertoire, and consider the pedagogical value of both sets of etudes.