In a letter to the publishers Lauterbach & Kuhn in 1902 when he had only composed 50 of the chorale preludes, Reger wrote, "None are technically difficult and the melodies have been collected by an organist of 30 years experience.

Reger's full title for the collection, "Zweiundfünfzig leicht ausführbare Vorspiele zu den gebräuchlichsten evangelischen Chorälen",[2] has been translated as "Fifty-two easy preludes on the most common Lutheran chorales".

The wording of the title reflects Reger's concern that his shorter pieces should be accessible and without technical difficulties: his organ works had previously been criticized for being too difficult and complex.

In a 1904 letter to his friend Karl Straube, organist at the Thomaskirche, advising him on which pieces to perform in a Leipzig recital, Reger indicated his own preferences, picking out O Welt ich muß dich lassen and Vater unser as amongst the most beautiful.

The musicologist Christopher Anderson compares Reger's setting of "O Welt" with the last piece from Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op.

79b, "In spite of their contrapuntal art and link with the motivic work of the old organ chorales, they represent no advancement on the depth of religious expression found in Bach's models.

Many are merely workmanlike, but if a chorale rests on Reger's innermost religious convictions—such as 'Auf tiefer Not', 'Herzlich tut mich verlangen' and 'O Welt ich muss dich lassen'—then these preludes express pious emotion.

25), a more moderate tempo enables the listener to take in the changing sonorities, subtle dissonances or brilliant semiquaver passage work on the organ.