  The quark dynamics inside light mesons, except pseudoscalar ones, can be
quite well described by a spinless Salpeter equation supplemented by a Cornell
interaction (possibly partly vector, partly scalar). A mass formula for these
mesons can then be obtained by computing analytical approximations of the
eigenvalues of the equation. We show that such a formula can be derived by
combining the results of two methods: the dominantly orbital state description
and the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization approach. The predictions of the mass
formula are compared with accurate solutions of the spinless Salpeter equation
computed with a Lagrange-mesh calculation method.
