The fifth variation in Britten's third opus the Corpus Christi Carol finds words in a hymn first found in the early 16th century music was later added by Peter Warlock and then in 1933 by Benjamin Britten.Ithas been arranged by the composer from his Choral Variations and edited by David Willcocks.

Scored for solo voice unison chorus and piano The Twelve Apostles was written for Peter Pears and the London Boy Singers. The text was adopted from The Ten Commandments as given in ‘English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians’ (1932).