The Ave Maria of 1934 for a cappella mixed choir was Stravinsky's fourth setting of a sacred text. He chose to set the text in Slavonic instead of Latin of Russian for several reasons. First, he was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, which proscribed Latin. Second, when he said his nightly prayers as a small child in St. Petersburg, he said them in Slavonic. As he later admitted in his Expositions and Developments, "I do not know how to say it in Russian." He set the Slavonic text for a cappella mixed choir because the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the use of any instruments in the church. As a result of this, and because as he said "I can endure unaccompanied singing in only the most harmonically primitive music," Stravinsky's setting of the Ave Maria is in an extremely simple Phrygian setting. His earlier settings of the Pater Noster (1926) was as simple, but his setting of the Credo (1932) was even more severe, being composed almost as plainchant with fauxbourdon. Because the chorus was accompanied, however, Stravinsky's setting of three psalms in his Symphony of Psalms of 1930 reverts to a more contrapuntal treatment of the voices.

In March 1949, Stravinsky adapted the Ave Maria for a Latin setting which resulted in several changes. First, the work was substantially lengthened from 20 to 35 bars. Second a number of small adjustments were make to the music to fit the different text. Third, Stravinsky added a final "Amen."

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