The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) has gained significant popularity over the past decade due to its versatility. The MMC features have been leveraged in numerous fields, including high-voltage DC transmission, electric vehicle power trains, motor drives, and wind energy conversion. In controlling the MMC, the circulating current (i.e., the current flowing through both the upper and lower converter arms without delivering power to the load) has consistently been the most critical variable. In early applications, it was perceived as a source of losses, but more recently, it has become evident that injecting a specific current could reduce voltage and energy ripples. This paper presents a theoretical framework, based on time-scale analysis, useful for modeling and controlling MMCs. The new approach is adopted for generating the circulating current reference, which is expressed as a linear combination of orthogonal functions. The goals are to decouple the control of the voltages of the upper and lower converter arms and manage additional harmonic components of the circulating current for voltage ripple reduction on module capacitors. The simulations and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.