This canon for four voices comes from the German Seventh-day Adventist hymnal published by the Hamburg Publishing House in 1983. Ursula Schlenker was born in 1930 in Berlin and educated in Burckardthaus. In 1954 she was cantor and assistant in pastoral care in Domersleben, near Magdeburg. Since 1977 she has been teacher in the School of Church Music at Greifswald, where her brother is cantor and leader. The English translation of her hymn was made by the Hymnal Committee in session, and a second stanza was added.

Alfred Stier (1880-1967) was born in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany; he studied sacred music in Leipzig, 1903. He was cantorin Limbach, Saxony, 1904, and in 1911 in Dresden. In 1933 he became musical director for the state church in Saxony. From 1948 he was vocal music leader for Saxony-Anholt in Ilensburg, East Germany. He did considerable work as a composer of church music and was much in demand as a leader for song festivals. O. Sohngen, who knew him, said, “In the person of Alfred Stier the evangelical [Lutheran] church gained an original cantor, who discovered anew the power and potential of singing and who dedicated his life to the service of this concept.” Three of his canons and three melodies are in the SDA German hymnal of 1983.

The accompanist may play either of the scores for the duration of the canon, which was arranged by Melvin West.