This cantata is scored for soprano, alto, bass, two violins, violone, and continuo. Buxtehude employs a text by Balthasar Kindermann from Das Buch der Redlichen in 1664. Altogether he sets seven stanzas of text. While Buxtehude does not set every verse of text to the same music, each of the odd-numbered verses are scored for the full ensemble while the even-numbered verses are scored for just a soloist and continuo with a few incursions by the violins. While the music in the even-numbered verses is similar from one verse to another each one is different from the others, and also each soloist, soprano, alto, and bass, gets the opportunity to sing alone. After alternating between soloists and the full ensemble through seven verses, Buxtehude concludes the work with a long polyphonic alleluia.

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