Two studies investigated the respective roles of pattern contour (number of contour changes), rule invariance, contour shape, and rate upon the recognition of 8-tone auditory sequences. Tonal patterns contained 0, 1, 2, or 3 contour changes, which were introduced in conjunction with a randomly selected musical interval (rule-variant patterns) or with predictable (rule-governed) musical transformations (rule-invariant patterns). Patterns were either symmetrical or asymmetrical in shape. Listeners discriminated transposed standards from distractor patterns that contained an order reversal. In Experiment 1, where patterns occurred at a slow rate, performance decreased as number of contour changes increased. No effects of rule invariance or contour shape were found. In Experiment 2, where patterns occurred at a rate twice that of Experiment 1, more contour changes again had a detrimental effect. In addition, rule-invariant patterns were easier than rule-variant patterns. Results suggest that contour contributes to temporal order confusion in a systematic way.