Psalm 87 has been paraphrased as the hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken", and set to music from Baroque to contemporary and popular.

The Psalms depict a splendid vision for Jerusalem, wherein individuals from historically adversarial groups to Israel are envisioned as being metaphorically 'born in Zion.'

These groups, symbolized by Rahab representing Egypt, Babylonia, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush, stand united in an unexpected reconciliation.

The psalm is classified as one of the "Songs of Zion", looking to the future Jerusalem as the 'center of universal worship' and listing some of the surrounding nations (from which Jewish proselytes have come to the festivals) or as a 'reference to Jews who come from different countries in the dispersion'.

Heinrich Schütz set the psalm in a metred version in German, "Fest ist gegründet Gottes Stadt", SWV 184, as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628.