The author is unknown. The earliest plainchant manuscript stems from the 12th century. There are slightly variant versions. Text Ave, Regina caelorum, ave, Domina angelorum, salve, radix, salve, porta, ex qua mundo lux est orta. Rejoice, Virgin most renowned and of unsurpassed beauty.
Most authorities break the antiphon into two rhymed stanzas.
These words recall associated biblical allusions used in the ancient Eastern hymn, the Akathistos. These are forms of greeting, acclamations, that show an increase of intensity and regard in the greeting. Though there is little literature to be traced regarding the Ave Regina Caelorum in comparison to the other antiphons, what is said of them applies here as well. It was not the intent of the antiphon writers and singers to enhance or musically interpret text significantly from the 9th - 13th centuries. These were religious forms, prayers of the most exalted type, that were to be prayed.