This piece was originally designed to be the equivalent of the Interlude in Britten's Ceremony of Carols in a similar type work which was later abandoned, leaving it artistically stranded. So it now stands on its own. It is a 'musing' on the Carol of the Nuns of Chester, Qui creavit caelum, which dates from 1425 and was originally sung by the sisters in a procession which itself was part of an Advent Mystery play.