Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut (Praise and honour be to the highest good), BWV 117,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
[1] Bach composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig between 1728 and 1731 for no specific occasion, based on the hymn by Johann Jakob Schütz.
[2] Musicologist Julian Mincham suggests two possibilities: it may have been intended as a "general-purpose" cantata, able to be used for almost any occasion with only minimal changes; or it may have been written for a ceremony of some kind, likely a wedding.
[5] Simon Crouch remarks that this cantata is "pervaded with the spirit of the dance", particularly given its frequent use of triple meter and the dominance of the major mode.
The long instrumental ritornello, created by strings (doubled by oboes and flutes) and continuo, appears at the beginning of the movement and four bars before the voices finish at the end.