A festive service at the Nikolaikirche was an annual event, celebrating the inauguration of a new town council, always held on the Monday after St. Bartholomew (August 24).

The text by an anonymous poet includes psalm verses and an excerpt from Martin Luther's German Te Deum.

For the Ratswechsel service, Bach could count on the entire council (his employer) listening, and probably also civil servants and representatives of the Elector's administration for the region.

The musicologist Klaus Hofmann notes: "It was an opportunity for Bach to show how sacred music was flourishing under his direction and to present himself as a composer.

To suit the event for which it was written, these are all turned into hymns of thanking and praising God for Leipzig's prosperity and asking him to protect the city in the future.

It is characterised by a very solemn character and the attributes of courtly homage music, such as the opening chorus in the form of a French overture or fanfare-like trumpet interjections in the bass recitative.

Only in its final two movements does Bach again use simple forms to emphasize the work's character of a church cantata, implying that earthly powers do not last, but God – the supreme ruler – is entitled to have the last word.

[2] The mostly homophonic slow opening[2] is in the typical dotted rhythms, and shows a remarkable concerto of the trumpets versus the rest of the orchestra.

[9] Analysis of corrections show that Bach probably used an instrumental piece composed earlier, and that the characteristic upward run on the first word "Preise" was added later.

),[1] is introduced and concluded with a fanfare-like trumpet and timpani line,[9] further wind instruments, recorders and oboes da caccia add colour to the middle section, in an unusual movement for the Leipzig congregation.

[2] The alto aria, "Die Obrigkeit ist Gottes Gabe" (Authority is God's gift),[1] is accompanied by two obbligato recorders in unison.

The obbligato presents high repeated notes beginning midway through the ritornello theme, which recurs as episodes and at the conclusion of the movement.

[9] A choral movement confirms "Der Herr hat Guts an uns getan" (The Lord has done good things for us).

[2] One fanfare motif appears also in Bach's first Brandenburg Concerto and would later be used in the bass aria Großer Herr und starker König in the Christmas Oratorio.

The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann assumes, reflecting its secular character as a hunting signal and fanfare, that the movement is derived from an earlier homage cantata.