Anna Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir is one of Iceland’s best-known contemporary composers. She studied composition at Iceland Academy of the Arts and was awarded her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, San Diego. Her music is frequently performed in Europe and the United States, and she has received commissions for instrumental works from major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Þorvaldsdóttir wrote Heyr þú oss himnum á for a concert series in August of 2005. The Crossing, a chamber choir specializing in new music, described the piece in its notes for its 2015 recording:

This one is special: an Icelandic hymn that, in the compositional hands of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, becomes a deeply rooted mediation - a study in the way in which harmony can affect us profoundly, can invite us to turn inward, quiet our brain and make sense of the chaos, if only for the brief moment as it passes into the past. … It's odd that we love to sing this; all voices are written in lower registers and, unusually, they stay there. We'd expect it to be tiring. No. Instead, it's entrancing. There's something dark and solid - earthbound and sparse - about the colors that Anna's writing produces; it is satisfying, communal, inspiring to work together to produce this unique palette.

The text is from a poem by the priest Olafur á Söndum (1560–1627), one of the leading poets of the early 17th century in Iceland.

Hear us in Heaven,Loving Father, as we your small children

Ask for the fortune

To receive eternal life.

We shall not stray from your path.

May we help your kingdom

To grow here on Earth.

Following your guidance,

We gather around in your name,

And gladly celebrate.

We cannot make a joyful song

Unless we are moved by love.

So let us sing our gentle praise

To you, Lord God in Heaven,

As the truly faithful have done.

When our poor souls

Pass away from this world,

Take us, God, to you,

Into your everlasting glory.

Amen, amen, may this be done.