In contrast with many assessments of the period, which focus on the works of Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Gabrieli, the book highlights particularly the contributions of composers who are less familiar to modern audiences, such as Ignazio Donati, Alessandro Grandi and Giovanni Rovetta.
Many of the pieces that Roche discusses were not available in modern editions at the time the book was published, meaning the inclusion of a larger quantity of illustrative examples than other similar works.
[1] The book has its origins in Jerome Roche's 1968 PhD dissertation, which was supervised by Denis Arnold at Cambridge University.
Jonathan Glixon, writing in Renaissance Quarterly, praised the book, commenting that it would have a particular value "when the fascinating music discussed by Professor Roche becomes more readily available in print and in recordings".
Glixon considered the final chapter of the introduction to be the "best discussion in print of the role of liturgical texts in motets".