Two young people are entwined in a tender embrace. The man sits on a roughly-hewn block, holding the young girl on his lap. She clasps her partner's head, thus bringing his face close to hers in a gesture of trustful abandon. The naked bodies with their smooth lines radiate a profound sensuality. The drapery which covered the young girl has slipped down between them, and the light plays on the delicate contours of the marble, accentuating the tenderness of the moment.

Tenderness is based on Youth, another of Bernard’s works, a couple sitting on the plinth of the monument to Michel Servet in Vienne. The group brings to mind Rodin's famous work, The Kiss. Yet Joseph Bernard used direct carving, a new form of expression that he promoted in France at the beginning of the 20th century. This technique did not involve the making clay or plaster models beforehand. This choice was made to aim at a reconnection with the original intention of sculpture – the act of carving – in the interests of sincerity and as a reaction against the academic practice of making models and delegating the subsequent steps to studio assistants.