Around 1860 Brahms composed three a cappella motets, settings of Lutheran religious texts that were, in the words of Brahms biographer Malcolm MacDonald, the crowning achievement of "his painstakingly acquired skill in the 'archaic' techniques of Renaissance polyphony."  Two of three motets (Es ist das Heil and Schaffe in mir, Gott) were published together as the composer's Op. 29, while the third (O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf) would remain unpublished until 1878, when it became part of Brahms' Op. 74.

Schaffe in mir, Gott is divided into three brief sections, each corresponding to a verse from Psalm 51. The first movement, which dates back to 1857, is based on a canon by augmentation and cast in G major. The middle movement is a chromatic fugue in G minor, while the third and final movement concludes with a fugal section based on the motet's opening theme.