These are primary theme colors. They are used for all the elements including buttons, alerts, background, etc.
Use the contexual class to have background with different shades.
E.g. .bg-{primary|secondary|success|danger|info|warning}
Each color has a translucent shade too. It adds a little transparency.
E.g. .bg-soft-{primary|secondary|success|danger|info|warning}
Even your text can have the contexual color.
E.g. .text-{primary|secondary|success|danger|info|warning}