Antonius of Busne, called Busnois, lived in the Franco-Burgundian culture which has been termed the "Waning Middle Ages"—a culture of mingled violence and passionate religiosity. He himself, as a young courtier and musician, was once excommunicated for being involved in a series of gang beatings upon a priest. Later, however, he took diaconal orders himself, and served several churches well—not to mention the court Chapel of the Dukes of Burgundy. Unfortunately, a paucity of surviving musical sources has unfairly left him in the shadow of his contemporary Ockeghem as a church composer. The Missa O Crux lignum triumphale is one of only two securely attributed Masses by Busnois, the other being the Missa l'Homme armé (though eight more Masses have been suggested as his by scholars). Though simple in its plan of unification, this Mass' contrapuntal execution reveals the stylistic debt owed to Busnois by Josquin Desprèz and the High Renaissance.

The practice of unifying the various movements of a Mass ordinary setting by means of a Tenor cantus firmus apparently came to Continental Europe from England in the 1440s, and was well-established by the time Busnois wrote the Missa O crux lignum. The melody he selected for this purpose comes from the twelfth verse of a well known Sequence (hymn) for the Feast of the Holy Cross, attributed to Adam of St. Victor, "Laudes crucis attolamus." He creates an ornamented version of the hymn tune in the Tenor voice of the Kyrie, and then organizes each movement around at least one statement of this same ornamented melody: (Kyrie once, Gloria 1 & 1/2 times, Credo 2, Sanctus 1 & 1/2, Agnus Dei 1). Subsequent statements within this structural arch, however, subject the exact same melodic notes to rhythmic transformation by his use of different mensurations (meters) each time; though most lengthen the Tenor note values, the Osanna features a furiously accelerated climax.

The movements are further related to the others by a lengthy head-motive—a five-measure opening duo quoted each time. Despite this rational structure, however, the counterpoint in the outer voices proves exquisitely florid. His melodies preserve their aural cohesion by frequently articulating the hymn's most characteristic intervals, but also expand into graceful arches. Their rhythmic profile is often complex, and complicated by rampant imitation among the three "free" voices.

Busnois extends the length of imitation to near-canonic lengths in the sections when the Tenor is not present (Christe, Et incarnatus, Pleni sunt coeli, etc.). The mensural transformations, furthermore, are not limited to the Tenor voice, but occur in the other voices—often at dramatic sectional conclusions (such as those for Pleni sunt coeli, and Agnus Dei II and III).

Melodic variants in the hymn and a local liturgical practice of singing just this verse during the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14) point to the city of Bruges as the most likely place for its performance. Not coincidentally, Busnois was serving as rector cantoriae at St. Savior in that city when he died. However, the only surviving manuscript source for this Mass is an Italian choirbook, copied during Busnois' earlier service to the Dukes of Burgundy, making dating of the piece difficult.

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