There are five “common settings” in the permalink page:
- Plain
- Day and name
- Month and name
- Numeric
- Post name
If you click the button next to any of those, you’ll see the value in the “Custom Structure” box change:
- Plain: [blank]
- Day and name: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/
- Month and name: /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/
- Numeric: /archives/%post_id%
- Post name: /%postname%/
You could change any of those values to something else. If you don’t change the custom structure to something else, and the value in that custom structure box is equal to one of the values I listed above, it will default back to the “Common Settings” that corresponds with the link structure value you set.
In your case, since the custom structure was /%postname%/, that is the same as the “Post name” option so it will default back to that option.
If you have changed the custom structure to something else and it isn’t keeping your changes when you refresh the page, be sure that you have clicked the “Save Changes” button at the bottom.