This is Luther's first congregational hymn. It was written in 1523,
soon after Luther had composed his famous ballad "Ein neues Lied wir heben an." It appeared in Etlich cristlich lider, Wittenberg, 1524, entitled "A Christian hymn of Dr, Martin Luther, setting forth the
unspeakable grace of God and the true faith." The blessings wrought by thishymn are well summarized in this paragraph of Tileman Hesshusius:

I do not doubt that through this one hymn of Luther many hundreds of Christians have been brought to the true faith who before could not endure the name of Luther; but the noble, precious words of the hymn have won their hearts, so that they are constrained to embrace the truth, so that in my opinion the hymns have helped the spread of the Gospel not a little.

The translation is an altered form of that by Richard Massie in his Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs, 1854.

The tune "Nun freut euch,” also called "Luther" and "Altdorf," has been inseparably wedded to the hymn since its appearance with the text in 1524, It is said to have been written down by Luther from hearing it sung by a traveling artisan.