It was originally a 17th-century Latin hymn, "Finita iam sunt proelia"; the popular English-language version is an 1861 translation by the English hymnwriter Francis Pott.
Death's mightiest powers have done their worst, And Jesus hath his foes dispersed; Let shouts of praise and joy outburst.
He brake the age-bound chains of hell; The bars from heaven's high portals fell; Let hymns of praise his triumph tell.
The most common is the tune Victory,[4][5] adapted from a 1591 setting of the Gloria Patri by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina from a Magnificat tertii toni.
"The strife is o'er" first appeared with this setting with threefold Alleluyas, arranged by Henry George Ley, in the 1925 hymnal Songs of Praise.