[2] He wrote his setting of "O magnum mysterium" in 1994, on a commission from Marshall Rutter of the Los Angeles Master Chorale,[3] for his wife Terry Knowles.

[4] It reflects first oxen and donkey next to the manger as first mentioned in Isaiah 1:3. and traditionally related to the nativity of Jesus as a symbol for the mystery of the self-abasement of God in his Incarnation.

The text was set to music by composers over the centuries, including Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francis Poulenc, and Jennifer Higdon.

[4] The composer said that he was inspired by a 1633 painting from the Norton Simon Museum, Zurbarán's Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (1633), which has been interpreted as symbolism for the Virgin Mary.

"[3][5] He said that the work is meant as "a quiet song of profound inner joy",[6] with music expressing both the mystery of the Incarnation and Mary's tenderness for her child.

[6] Lauridsen remembered that he put considerable thinking into a dissonant chord to comment on Mary's sorrow about her son to be killed.

A reviewer noted the "higher simplicity" (höhere Einfachheit) achieved by simple melodies, expressive ethereal sounds, and imperturbable calmness.