It was the first of three interrelated compositions in MacMillan's Easter triptych Triduum commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Its world premiere was given by the soloist Christine Pendrill (to whom the piece is dedicated) and the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano at the Barbican Centre on 11 July 1996.
The World's Ransoming was the first of three pieces comprising MacMillan's Easter triptych Triduum, which would later include the composer's Cello Concerto and his Symphony: 'Vigil'.
In the score program notes, MacMillan wrote, "The World's Ransoming focuses on Maundy Thursday and its musical material includes references to plainsongs for that day, Pange lingua and Ubi caritas as well as a Bach chorale (Ach wie nichtig) which I have heard being sung in the eucharistic procession to the altar of repose."
[1] Arnold Whittall of Gramophone compared the work favorably to MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, writing, "The World's Ransoming is more temperate, with more substance to its passages of lament, and with more power to the assaults on spirituality which it depicts.