The Southern Sinfonia (then the Dunedin Civic orchestra) commissioned Pruden's second arrangement of God Save the Queen for their tenth anniversary concert held on 24 April 1976. Actually, two arrangements were commissioned, one for strings (of which there are alternate versions), to follow a long drum roll for the entrance of the Governor General, Sir Denis Blundell, who was a guest, and another for orchestra to close the concert. In a letter to his wife following the performance, Pruden wrote:

My two Queens seemed to upset those whom one might expect to be upset and delight the remainder. Jack Spiers [the conductor], who is pretty reticent with compliments, was well pleased and described the full orch one as really thrilling. I had done two string versions for him to choose from, the first rather strange and the second more orthodox (though with the "Send her victorious, happy and glorious" phrase sounding in counterpoint through the first six bars!). Jack preferred the first, but put it to the vote, and somewhat surprisingly the orchestra also voted for the first with only four or five preferring the second. So that's what the old boy got.

Peter 's review in the Otago Daily Times of 26 April was also complimentary:

Two renditions of the National Anthem at the beginning and close of the programme proved something of a surprise to the audience and also to the orchestra, not just because its performance is a rarity these days, but because the Larry Pruden arrangements brought a new flavour to a familiar tune.