He set the hymn Benedicite from the Book of Common Prayer, and additional free texts based on the model in three movements for unison children's choir.

A subset of the music for children's choir was published as Bless the Lord.

Benedicite was commissioned for the 1989 Singing Day in Edinburgh by the British Federation of Young Choirs.

[4] Carter set the hymn Benedicite from the Book of Common Prayer in six movements, and interspersed three additional movements, whose texts are free variations on the model, to be sung by a unison children's choir.

The movements are:[6] The first performance of Benedicite was at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh on 5 November 1989, conducted by Philip Ledger.