Intended for use on Trinity Sunday, the text invites worshippers to join in praising the trinitarian deity, paraphrasing Revelation 4:1–11.

[3] It was published when Anglican authorities disapproved of the singing of hymns in churches, other than metrical psalms, although there was considerable informal hymn-singing in parishes.

Described as a "reverent and faithful paraphrase of Revelation 4:8–11" and of the Johannine vision of unending worship in Heaven, it is an example of Heber's dutiful attempt to avoid excessive emotionalism.

Poetically, it is in the long and unusual 11.12.12.10 meter, contrasting with the shorter stanzas of most preceding English hymnody, such as that of Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley.

[8] The text has a wide scope, successively referencing humans, saints, angels and all living creatures,[3] and its main theme is the "basic belief in the Trinity", which is shared by most denominations of the Christian church despite other differences.

[1] Variants to the original text in modern hymnals are relatively minor, mostly found in usage by non-trinitarian groups such as the Mormons – where the final line is changed to "God in His glory, blessed Deity!"

[10] Some Unitarian hymnals also employed, deliberately, the same tune for "Bring, O morn, thy music" by William Channing Gannett, which has been described as a "considered response" to the Trinitarianism of the original text.

It includes deliberate quotations of Heber's text, notably the repeated final line "Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be".

[6][7] Rarely separated from the lyrics since then,[1][3] it has been noted as one of the composer's finest and shares resemblances with a 16th-century Lutheran chorale, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" by Philipp Nicolai.

The four-part harmonisation written by Dykes is usually unchanged in hymnals, though it is frequently transposed down a tone from the initial E major.