This cerebral and edifying work was most likely written while the composer was in the service of the English Duke of Bedford, who was the regent of France and leading the English armies against Joan of Arc. At this time, Notre Dame and Burgundy were important music centers and composers such as Dunstaple would have known that music well. Nonetheless, a work such as Veni, Sancte Spiritus for four voices is clearly English.

This gorgeous, isorhythmic quartet is notable for its rich texture and preference for a major scale sound over the more common, modal tendencies of the continental composers. Though the three texts are densely packed into the work's approximate, six-minute duration, none of it is lost among the concurrent voices. The fourth voice, an isorhythmic tenor, is free of text, calling for instrumentalists. During this period there was no specific delegation of instruments. Combinations of rebecs, recorders, and positive organs were some of the likely choices available for rounding out the ensemble, depending on what was available at the moment. The tone of the motet is particularly cerebral and restrained, and its quiet rapture is effective and compelling. True to the tone of the music, the text does not paint God in the light of an unreasonable or irrational force that requires rigorous groveling. Just as the score reflects civility, the text makes sensible requests of a well-adjusted deity. This composer is an excellent artist who typifies the character of his nation. Dunstaple's motets are among the finest of the fifteenth century, and anyone who is interested in English Renaissance music will be particularly pleased to become acquainted with Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

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