Parker wrote a second story set in World War II, "Song of the Shirt, 1941," in which an upper-class woman, unaccustomed to work of any kind, tries to sew clothing for the war effort. Parker's other two war stories, "Soldiers of the Republic" and "Who Might Be Interested," concern the Spanish Civil War.

As a more fully narrated story (rather than an interior monologue or dialogue), "The Lovely Leave" can be compared with Parker's other narrated stories—"Horsie," "Big Blonde," "Such a Pretty Little Picture," "Mr. Durant," "I Live on Your Visits," "The Wonderful Old Gentleman," and "Lolita."