 Brahms wrote the work on the occasion of the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War and dedicated it to emperor Wilhelm I.The text itself emanates from the Book of Revelation predicting the downfall of Babylon but is consciously reinterpreted into political terms.Due to its patriotic message bound to the zeitgeist of the Unification of Germany, the "Triumphlied" lost popularity after World War I, despite its musical quality.