[2] Luther's hymn has been quoted in many musical works, both religious and secular, including Bach's cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80.

[6] Spurgeon notes that the description in verse 1 in the Hebrew Bible version, calling for the psalm to be played "on alamot", could denote either a high-pitched musical instrument or the soprano voices of young girls who went out to dance in celebration of David's victory over the Philistines.

[7] The Midrash Tehillim, however, parses the word alamot (Hebrew: עלמות) as referring to the "hidden things" that God does for his people.

There is a difference of opinion among Christian scholars as to which "river" the psalm is referring to in verse 4 of the KJV, the streams of which make glad the city of God.

[20] Martin Luther wrote and composed a hymn which paraphrases Psalm 46, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott", which was translated as "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God".

Luther's hymn was called "the Marseillaise of the Reformation" by Heinrich Heine in his essay Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland.

Johann Sebastian Bach based one of his chorale cantatas, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, on Luther's hymn.

In the 17th century, Johann Pachelbel composed a motet setting of Psalm 46, Gott ist unser Zuversicht und Stärke.

Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase in German, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott", SWV 143, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.