Music printer Ottaviano Petrucci left the world a small conundrum in his fourth book of motets (1505). It includes a piece by Alexander Agricola entitled Pater meus agricola est. But what kind of piece is it? Its Latin title, not to mention its inclusion in a motet anthology, argues for its being a motet; the Latin text "Pater meus" even has a liturgical assignment: it comes from John 15:1 ("I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser"), the Gospel Lesson for a Martyr's Feast (in the Paschal season). But Petrucci did not include the complete text—only the beginning; this snippet of Latin could just as easily be read as a pun: "My father is Agricola." Stylistically, the music of Pater meus is very un-motet-like, more closely resembling Agricola's instrumental works (including another piece whose title is a joke, Cecus Non Judicat Coloribus).

Pater meus falls into two long sections. The melodies of its three voices transpire in very long-breathed lines less concerned with careful dissonance treatment than with complex rhythms and dramatic, angular leaps. Technique and texture, similarly, constantly vary in Pater meus: Agricola shifts between clear points of imitation in all three voices, free counterpoint, quasi-canonic duos, and sequential motives. Several large-scale meter changes occur. The harmonic rhythm changes quite frequently; twice the composer even suspends the harmonic motion with a bassus pedal point and once, he gives nine quick repetitions of the same two alternating harmonies.

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