[2] It was one of Rachmaninoff's two favorite compositions[3] along with The Bells, and the composer requested that its fifth movement (Нынѣ отпущаеши, Nunc dimittis) be sung at his funeral.

This is both literally and conceptually incorrect as applied to the entire work; only the first six of its fifteen movements set texts from the Russian Orthodox canonical hour of Vespers.

[4] The All-Night Vigil is perhaps notable as one of two liturgical settings (the other being the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom) by a composer who had stopped attending church services.

Rachmaninoff's work is a culmination of the preceding two decades of interest in Russian sacred music, as initiated by Tchaikovsky's setting of the all-night vigil.

[5][6] The similarities between the works, such as the extensive use of traditional chants, demonstrates the extent of Tchaikovsky's influence; however, Rachmaninoff's setting is much more complex in its use of harmony, textual variety and polyphony.

On the night of April 2, 2022, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, celebrated a hierarchical All-Night Vigil that included all of the movements of Rachmaninoff’s work, incorporated with the complete order of the service.

The first recording of the Vigil was made by Aleksandr Sveshnikov with the State Academic Russian Choir of the USSR for the Soviet Melodiya label in 1965 – exactly half a century after the work's first performance.