Vaughan Williams's Fifth Symphony was begun while he was working on The Pilgrim's Progress. Believing that this might never be performed, he diverted some of the music to the Symphony. The Symphony is suffused with that luminous quality which distinguishes Vaughan Williams's writing inspired by The Pilgrim's Progress. Following the calculated violence of the Fourth Symphony, it was seen by many to be presaging an end to war, or as a serene benediction from a composer who was then turned seventy. It was neither, as it was begun in 1938 and there were four more symphonies to come.

The 1921 Prelude and Fugue in C minor was arranged for full orchestra and organ in 1930. It is a powerful work and displays links with both the Fourth Symphony and Job. Vaughan Williams discovered Gibbons's hymn tunes whilst preparing the English Hymnal and originally conceived the Hymn-tune Prelude on Song 13 as a piece for piano. It was arranged for string orchestra, with the permission of the composer, by Helen Glatz.

The Pilgrim Pavement was written for the Dedication of the Pilgrim's Pavement in the Central Nave of the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York. Vaughan Williams adopts a solemn processional style, with voices mostly in unison and a passage for soprano solo. Valiant-for-truth was composed in 1940 and used Bunyan's words of Mr Valiant-for-truth. The plainsong style, marked quasi recitativo, rises to a moving and triumphant conclusion.

The arrangement of the Twenty-third Psalm for soprano and mixed chorus was made from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Churchill in 1953. It is heart-warming music with the same serene quality as the Fifth Symphony.