The cantata text was provided by Erdmann Neumeister, who quoted the Book of Revelation and framed his work by two hymn stanzas, the beginning of Martin Luther's "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", the main hymn for Advent with a melody based on Medieval chant, and the end from Philipp Nicolai's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern".

As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the Schlosskirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule.

"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" is the main hymn for Advent, which Martin Luther had derived from the Latin Veni redemptor gentium.

[4] For the conclusion, Neumeister chose the second part, the Abgesang, of the seventh and final stanza of Philipp Nicolai's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern".

[3][5] The librettist quoted the Book of Revelation in the fourth movement: "Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür und klopfe an.

[3] Bach had set one text by Neumeister before, possibly by 1713, in his cantata Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18.

As Thomaskantor, director of music of the main churches of Leipzig, Bach performed the cantata again on 28 November 1723, beginning the first liturgical year in the new position.

[3] He scored it for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), tenor (T) and bass (B)), and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of violins (Vl), two violas (Va), and basso continuo (Bc), including cello (Vc) and bassoon (Fg).

[3] Wolff notes that Bach possibly followed the model of an opera by Agostino Steffani, Henrico Leone, which uses a chorus in a French overture.

Dürr comments that the use of the unison string ritornello, played even during the vocal passages, provides a "rather pointedly strict and unified character".

[3] The musicologist Richard Taruskin commented: "This hybridization of operatic and instrumental styles is ... standard operating procedure in Bach's cantatas.

"[11] The quote from Revelation, "Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür und klopfe an" (See, I stand before the door and knock),[3] is given as a recitative to the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ).

[3] Dürr notes: "The most expressive text-engendered declamation is here ingeniously melted down into a structure only ten bars long but of compelling musical logic.

"[3] John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, compares it to an Emmaus scene in Bach's later cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, the "post-Resurrection appearance to the disciples" in Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ, BWV 67, even to "the entry of the Commendatore in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni.

[3] The violin has to "climb three octaves to convey the extent of the soul's longing for the joys of a future life and the prospect of Jesus returning at the end of time".