It was a collection of 444 old and new songs, edited by the educator and hymnwriter Heinrich Bone, and the first Catholic hymnal in German that was used in multiple dioceses.

[2] The hymnal has a programmatic title in Latin, referring to the traditional liturgical language of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church.

It is subtitled "Katholisches Gesangbuch nebst Gebeten und Andachten für alle Zeiten und Feste des Kirchenjahres" (Catholic songbook including prayers and contemplations for all times and feasts of the church year).

[4] For the second, expanded edition of 1851, Bone wrote a foreword of several pages explaining his program, dated Christmas 1850.

[6] The common German hymnal Gotteslob of 1975 contained several songs from Bone's Cantate!, some with revised wording.