embellishment

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of embellishing or the state of being embellished.
• noun Something that embellishes; a decoration.
• noun Music A note that embellishes a melody.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of embellishing, or the state of being embellished.
• noun Ornament; decoration; anything that adds beauty or elegance; that which renders anything tasteful or pleasing to the sense: as, rich dresses are embellishments, of the person; virtue is an embellishment of the mind.
• noun Specifically In music, an ornamental addition to the essential tones of a melody, such as a trill, an appoggiatura, a turn, etc.; a grace or decoration.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of adorning, or the state of being adorned; adornment.
• noun That which adds beauty or elegance; ornament; decoration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An unnecessarily added touch, an ornamental addition, a flourish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun elaboration of an interpretation by the use of decorative (sometimes fictitious) detail
• noun a superfluous ornament
• noun the act of adding extraneous decorations to something