During the Classical era of music a symphony generally consisted of four movements. Each movement would follow one of a set of preset types with defined rules. The second movement would be slower and the third would be a faster dance like movement. Beethoven was one of the first composers to vary and then break the rules which began the Romantic era of music.
(Great Courses – The Symphonies of Beethoven)
And of course popular music also generally has recognizable “movements”: Intro (less so now than in the earlier 1900s); Verse; Chorus (or bridge); Verse; Chorus …