The Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt grew up in a Christian family, where hymns and classical music were part of everyday life.

[1] Among roughly 300 choral compositions, which account for three quarters of his works,[2] he wrote several pieces of sacred music, including De Profundis, Op.

[4][5] He structured the text in the usual five movements, which he simply provided with metronome figures instead of verbal tempo markings:[5] All parts are divided at times.

[8] In 2012, it was recorded by the Kuopio Academic Chamber Choir, conducted by Heikki Liimola, as part of the collection Uusi laulu laulakaa (Sing a New Song) of music by mostly Scandinavian composers such as Erkki Tuppurainen and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

[9] It was recorded in 2017 by the Deutscher Jugendkammerchor chamber choir as the final part of the collection Nachtschichten (Night shifts), which also includes works by Brahms and Reger, Ravel's Trois Chansons and Arvo Pärt's The Deer's Cry.