Nielsen composed the song in 1910. It is not possible to determine which of the two first versions he composed first. The version for male choir was the first to be performed in public and to be printed. Valdemar Rørdam later re-used the melody – and also that of Nielsen's choral movement Aftenstemning (CNW 359) – in a cantata for the inauguration of the radium station in Copenhagen on 4 March 1931. See more about this work at The Royal Library