Music historians sometimes find themselves in the position to play detective; this happened in 1978 to the person who discovered a new manuscript of music by Thomas Tallis. Hidden in a wall cavity since the reign of Queen Elizabeth was part of Tallis' great Marian antiphon Gaude gloriosa Dei mater, but with an English text. Since the discovery of the fragment, music historians have argued merrily about whether Tallis wrote the piece first in Latin late in Henry VIII's time, and then translated it into an English-language anthem for use in Edward's Anglican church, or whether he wrote it during the Catholic restoration under Queen Mary in the 1550s. The latter seems somewhat more likely, as Tallis and others fed a musical vogue during Mary's reign for such large-scale Marian votive antiphons. Regardless of the date, Tallis' Gaude gloriosa remains one of his finest essays in the form, a grand gesture of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. If it was composed under Queen Mary, in addition, Gaude gloriosa would also carry strong associations of praise to both Marys, the one reigning in heaven and the one on Earth.

Tallis' Gaude gloriosa Dei mater, like numerous other such Marian votive pieces from Mary's time, proceeds in two roughly equal sections, the first in a triple meter and the second in duple. To this conservative layout Tallis added a complicated series of proportions between the lengths of sub-sections: he embeds several Pythagorean proportions (3:2, 2:1, and even two instances of 9:8) within the very structure of his motet. Superficially, the music proceeds in sections marked by contrasts of texture, from solos to full six-voiced climaxes in which imitative motives are passed upwards through musical space. Often Tallis even manipulates the textures for word-painting effect, such as the wide spacing between two men's voices and a high soprano at the mention of "angels," or the rich texture of divided upper voices for one verse. The non-scriptural text carried by these stupendous proportions and textures consists of seven jubilant acclamations to the Virgin; they correspond to the number of her Seven Joys. The text variously credits Mary with being exalted by the hand of God Himself, of receiving the praise of angels, saints, and all Christians; it names her "flower of flowers," "light of the world," "intervention for all miserable sinners," and even "savior of the damned."

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