This 1944 work for women's chorus and strings with an unusual set of additional instruments possesses a unique sound. The texts are by Messiaen himself, who wrote that the words and music were conceived at the same time. With piano, celeste, vibraphone, gong, and tam-tam, maracas, and the electronic instrument the Ondes Martenot taking a prominent role in the orchestral tempo, the orchestra is, in the composer's words, "a Europeanized Hindi or Balinese instrumentation." The first movement, "Antienne de la conversation interieure," features slow, chant-like prayers from the voices and strings, with bird-song commentary from the piano seeming to possess improvisatory freedom. The second, "Sequence du verbe, Cantique divine," is a fast piece, almost dance-like except for Messiaen's habit of adding or subtracting a fraction of a beat here or there to create a kind of unpredictable stutter-step. It is ardent, ecstatic, lively, and lyrical, all at once, making an effective sort of scherzo in the whole. The final movement is the longest. Named "Psalmodie de l'ubiquite par amour," it is mainly built on driving rhythms, with the chorus sometimes chanting in speaking voices. These driving rhythms are sometimes harsh, but sometimes are beautifully sung over a bed of gliding strings and sparkling chiming sounds from piano, celeste, and vibraphone. Then at times, forward motion ceases for a slow, ecstatic interlude of prayer. By the end, most of these elements recur at once in an amazing rush of even greater ecstasy. Despite the title, this is a work of substantial dimensions, taking about 30 minutes to play, of which about half that total is occupied by the remarkable finale.

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