In Roquemaure at the end of 1843, the church organ had recently been renovated. To celebrate the event, the parish priest persuaded wine merchant and poet Placide Cappeau, a native of the town, to write a Christmas poem. Soon afterwards that same year, Adolphe Adam composed the music. The song was premiered in Roquemaure in 1847 by the opera singer Emily Laurey. Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight, editor of Dwight's Journal of Music, translated the song into English lyrics in 1855.