When Maria returns to the Abbey, confused by her feelings for Captain von Trapp, the Mother Abbess assures her that loving another person can be part of what God wants us to do. “You must find the life you were born to live,” she says before singing this inspirational anthem. By the end of the song, Maria understands and removes her wimple, indicating that she will return to the Captain.

“Climb Ev’ry Mountain” is a great example of the influence Sister Gregory, a Dominican theater-loving nun from Illinois who was friendly with star Mary Martin, had on Rodgers & Hammerstein during the creation of The Sound of Music. In February 1958, Sister Gregory wrote to the creative team, “The whole purpose of life, it seems to me, is pinpointed in Maria’s struggle to choose between my two vocations… ‘What does God want me to do with my life? How does he wish me to spend my love?’” Some lines from Sister Gregory’s letters eventually made their way into the musical’s book, verbatim.