For solo soprano and basso continuo, Lord, what is man? was published in the second volume of Henry Playford's Harmonia Sacra, or Divine Hymns and Dialogues in 1693. The song was most likely composed the same year. A mature work, it show the composer's powers of motivic manipulation and his ability to respond to both the individual words and the overall meaning of a text.

The poem of "Lord, what is man?" is by Dr. William Fuller, Bishop of Lincoln, and is arguably the best of Fuller's texts ever set by Purcell. The narrator expresses his amazement and bewilderment that his deity became human and died for humans, which he likens to worms. He asks the spirits if they were happy or astonished "That man should be assumed into the deity / That for a worm a God should die?" The poem closes with the narrator's wish to sing here on Earth as the spirits sing in the heavens.

Fuller's flowery text gave Purcell ample opportunity to explore varied means of expression. Beginning almost in recitative style, Purcell asks the opening question, "Lord, what is man, lost man?" at first simply, then repeats it in a more anxious tone. By the time the narrator wonders at his Lord becoming "a poor tormented man," the melodic line has become more fluid, with a clear shape. Purcell illustrates the contrast between earthy and heavenly realms by keeping the voice in a low register when setting "lost man," rising as the text tells of the "Son of God" and heavenly beings. When the narrator asks of the spirits "joy," the word is set to an elegant melisma, while their "astonishment" is depicted through an abrupt, falling gesture. At, "O! for a voice like yours to sing / That anthem here which once you sing above," Purcell shifts to an expressive arioso mode of declamation, as if the singer is singing about the act of singing. The manifold repetitions of "Alleluia" are set to disparate phrases and pass through numerous forms of expression, featuring Italianate melismas.

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