Simeon sings the Nunc dimittis ("Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace") when Jesus is presented in the temple (Luke 2:29–32).

Howells set the combination of Magnificat and Nunc dimittis 20 times,[1][2] taking the words from the Book of Common Prayer.

The Magnificat begins, marked "Con moto piacevole", with the sopranos alone, while the organ supplies a steady slow foundation of chords in halfnotes, and plays the melody after the voices in canon.

The phrase "and hath exalted the humble" is marked by entrances in succession from the lowest voice to the highest, combined with crescendo.

[2] The composer's biographer, Christopher Palmer, described the Gloucester Service as being one of the three Howells canticle settings that "tower above the rest" (the others being Collegium Regale for King's College, Cambridge, and the St Paul's Service for St Paul's Cathedral) where the music "burns through the words' patina of familiarity into a dramatic and purposeful entity", while reflecting their "constantly varying nuances and inflections".