The music and lyrics were written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

The lyric, which briefly depicts the Midwestern twang phonetically,[clarification needed] describes the landscape and prairie weather in positive language.

It further emphasizes the wholesome aspects of rural life, and the steadfast dedication of the region's inhabitants, against the overtly stated formal backdrop of the territory's impending admission to the Union in 1907.

Orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett's massive 8-part chorale near the end of the song extends it to include a spelling of the name, ending with an epic ritardando leading into one last iteration of "Oklahoma."

[3] The lyrics of the refrain are: "I give you a land of sun and flowers, and summer a whole year long, I give you a land where the golden hours roll by to the mockingbird's song, Where the cotton blooms 'neath the southern sun, where the vintage hangs thick on the vine.