These madrigals were Long live faire Oriana and Round about her Charret; modern commentators generally favor the latter.

[8] Orlando, who would become the most famous musician of the family,[9] was born in 1583 in Oxford,[10] although musicologist George A. Thewlis notes that Edward and Ellis were still living in Cambridge at the time.

[12][n 4] Gibbons owned property in Cambridge and in the churchyard of St Paul's Cathedral, suggesting that he spent time in London.

[12][n 5] Modern musicologists do not accept this claim since Wood had conflicting statements earlier in his text and no supporting evidence has been found in the Salisbury or Bristol records.

[15] Since the will was proved only 4 days later by his brother Edward, musicologist Edmund Fellowes speculated that the 14 May 1603 was also Gibbons' date of death.

[17] American musicologist Joseph Kerman furthers this oddity by noting that prominent English composers like William Byrd and Giles Farnaby are excluded, which he explains by speculating that one of the madrigals may be by Ellis Gibbons' older brother Edward.

Long live faire Oriana has been criticized by Fellowes and Harley as being dull,[17] and having "the appearance of being written at the keyboard".