On the album, Coltrane appears on piano, organ, harp, tamboura, and percussion, and is joined by saxophonist Frank Lowe, bassist Reggie Workman, drummer Ben Riley, timpanist Elayne Jones, and a string ensemble led by David Sackson.

World Galaxy features a trilogy of original compositions bookended by "My Favorite Things" and "A Love Supreme", two pieces for which her husband John Coltrane was known.

[5][6] The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This set may take some getting used to for some, but it's easily one of the strongest records Alice Coltrane ever released, and one of the finest moments in jazz from the early '70s".

[2] In an article for The Guardian, Jennifer Lucy Allan wrote: "there is a ferocious power and emotion in these versions of 'A Love Supreme' and 'My Favorite Things'... 'My Favorite Things' starts sweetly but descends into a chaotic breakdown as her organ flares in anxious bursts... 'A Love Supreme'... is soothingly narrated by Swami Satchidananda before she lets loose a rude funk upon the standard's signature motif.

"[8] Chris May of All About Jazz called the album a "full-on astral experience," and commented: "World Galaxy is transporting stuff—and the four pieces which precede "A Love Supreme" make that much maligned track sound perfectly logical.