Van Nuffel set many Latin texts to music, including ten psalms, for the liturgy and also concert at the Sint Rombouts Kathedraal in Mechelen, where he served as cantor, while Flor Peeters was organist.

[2] The psalm,[3] sung by the Jews in Babylonian exile,[4] has often been set to music[broken anchor], and inspired for example Verdi's opera Nabucco.

After a few chords of the organ and general pause, the voices return to text and music from the beginning, ending with "when we remembered Zion".

[6] The psalm was performed by a large choir conducted by Dan-Olof Stenlund with Hans Fagius on the organ, during the Europa Cantat festival in Namur, Belgium in 1982 in Abbaye de Floreffe.

According to many members of that choir, it took some time to get the heartbeat back to normal after the incredibly powerful final: Beatus, qui tenebit et allidet parvulos tuos ad petram.