O Herre Gott, dein göttlich Wort was commissioned by Choir & Organ magazine for first performance in St Paul's Cathedral with the premiere given by Simon Johnson in the Cathedral on 4 December 2016.

The piece formed part of William Whitehead's now completed Orgelbüchlein Project which was a is a major international composition project to complete J S Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, with pieces written by composers from around the world, including Gabriel Jackson, Ēriks Ešenvalds and Tarik O’ Regan .