It is as follows: For the organ version, in response to the fast scherzic textures of the orchestral third movement which were apparently unsuitable for the instrument, the composer gave up arranging it, replacing it with an entirely new toccata in F-sharp major titled Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Outbursts of Joy From a Soul Before the Self-Fulfilling Glory of Christ").

The work's earliest sketches (in short-score format) are described as dating from May of 1932 and were written in the composer's residence, 13 villa Danube in Paris.

At the time of writing, Messiaen had been teaching at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and had already published a handful of pieces, however, he was mostly known as an organist.

He was appointed as titular organist of La Sainte-Trinité following the death of Charles Quef in 1931 and was a former pupil of Marcel Dupré, Charles-Marie Widor, and Paul Dukas.

The first, second and fourth movements are arrangements of the orchestral pieces, but Messiaen composed a new third movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Outbursts of joy from a soul before the glory of Christ which is its own glory"), usually just known as Transports de joie.