I had no idea but the question made me curious too. I found a German website that resolved some of it:
Very shortly: In the process of autumn or however you might call it, the chlorophylle will decay. In summertime, it covers some colour pigments (called xanthophyllines which means "yellow leaf stuff") that are contained in the leaf. As there isn't chlorophylle anymore, the xanthophyllines can be seen in autumn.

On that basis I suppose that the kind of xanthophyllines is typical for the single plant, i.e. that maple has slightly different pigments than maple.

I am happy for any botanic wiz who provides more information.

Ramanth: thanks for the question. I never thought of all that and now I want to know too