Hindemith composed a total of 14 motets for soprano and piano between 1940 and 1960. It was not until 1958 that Hindemith developed the idea of combining his early motets with the composition of further pieces to create a cycle, setting to music stories from the four gospels for Christmas time from Christmas Eve to the 4th Sunday after Epiphany. The motet 'In Principio erat Verbum', dated '24.12.41' and dedicated to Hindemith's 'dearest colleague', Gertrud Hindemith, was not included. 'In Principio erat Verbum' remained unpublished and unperformed until it was included in the Complete Hindemith Edition. The motet is available as a single piece of sheet music and completes the series of Christmas stories from the gospels with the one of the third mass on 25 December, the famous beginning of the Gospel of John: 'In the beginning was the word'.
