The Service incorporates a number of features which facilitate the reconstruction of the Jubilate Deo: (i) its subtitles 'in vers for a mean' and 'for meanes' in several vocal sources for the Te Deum and Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis, implying that much of the verse writing is for one or two boy's voices of normal 'meane' range (as distinct from the high 'treble') - an implication borne out by the surviving vocal material, particularly for the Te Deum; (ii) its opening vocal phrase shared, in slightly modified form, by all four 'canticle' movements; (iii) its unusually intricate musical cross-referencing both within and between its movements; (iv) its chorus writing for SATB in the Te Deum and Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis, with the occasional addition of a further alto part; (v) the setting of 'Gloria Patri' to the same music in the Jubilate Deo and Nunc Dimittis - an uncommon procedure in service music of the period but one adopted by Weelkes in no fewer than four of his ten services.

A note in the index of John Barnard's important published collection Selected Church Musick (1641) refers to several Jubilate Deo settings as being 'many times, Sung in stead of Anthems'. There is therefore an historical precedent for performing canticles such as the present Jubilate Deo as an anthem. This edition marks the first appearance in print of the Jubilate Deo from Weelkes's First Service. The remaining three movements for Morning and Evening Prayer are published by Cathedral Press as CP 6 [Te Deum laudamus] and CP 26 [Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis].