Ave Maria, one of Lauridsen's growing series of a cappella motets on well-known Latin texts, received its world premiere performance by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Paul Salamunovich. The composer wrote, "This serene setting was specially composed as a 70th birthday gift to Maestro Salamunovich, who continues to enrich us all through his magnificent and enduring contributions to the art of choral music." The changing moods of the text's two verses are reflected in a pair of strong and evocative themes, and in polyphonic textures enriched with divisis to eight or more parts, and peppered with the composer's trademark "gentle" dissonances.