Rautavaara composed the work in 1953, after his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki from 1948 to 1952 with Aarre Merikanto.

[3] Rautavaara scored the work for 13 brass parts (4 trumpets in B-flat, 4 horns in F, 3 trombones, tenor tuba/euphonium and bass tuba), timpani and percussion (bell, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum and xylophone),[4] and wrote the dedication "to the memory of my mother".

[5] A reviewer of the Australian premiere on 8 April 2011 at Sydney's Opera House noted that the work combines "conciseness and economy of utterance with an opulent and romantic sense of expression".

[7] A Requiem in Our Time is part of a 2003 recording of Rautavaara's works, performed by members of the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Jorma Panula.

A reviewer noted that "virtuoso playing is required to achieve speed and pianissimo layering".