Kirke Mechem composed the Seven Joys of Christmas for the Chamber Singers of the San Francisco College for Women. He set out with the goal of setting lesser-known, but none the less attractive, carols from different countries in order to paint different aspects of joy for the Christmastide. He employed the number "Seven" because it is considered a magical number (as it is applies to mystery in the liturgy). The final carol, God bless the master of this house, is an amusing combination of all the carols in the composition, in addition to other well-known Christmastide melodies. In certain passages, two, three, even four different carols are being performed at the same time!