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Arnold Bax composed his Five Fantasies on Polish Christmas Carols in 1942, setting five traditional Polish carols in English translation by Jan Śliwiński for unison treble voices (or other voices) and string orchestra. The five carols are God is Born, In Nightly Stillness, In the Manger He is Lying, Lullay, Dear Jesus, and Merrily to Bethlehem, and together they run to a compact and attractive fifteen minutes, making the work an ideal length for a festive concert programme. Written during the Second World War, at a time when Bax's output increasingly turned toward smaller-scale and occasional pieces, the Fantasies show him engaging warmly and directly with folk material outside his usual Celtic sources.

The scoring for voices and strings alone gives the work a warm, intimate sound well suited to choral societies, youth choirs, and chamber orchestras looking for seasonal repertoire beyond the standard carol arrangements. Bax's setting treats each carol with characteristic melodic sensitivity and gentle harmonic colour, moving from tender lullabies to more festive, dance-like numbers, and the string writing supports the voices without ever overwhelming them. As a rarely performed but thoroughly charming addition to the Christmas choral repertoire, this score and set of parts offers an appealing opportunity to bring a genuine discovery by a major twentieth-century British composer to the concert stage.