Commissioned by the internationally known percussion quintet NEXUS, Water Turning into Wine was originally a movement from Four Rituals for percussion, choir and audience. The original work, no longer extant, was given its premiere performance on 10 December 2004 at a Nexus Faculty Artists Concert in Walter Hall, University of Toronto.

Drawing its title from Christ's first recorded miracle at the Wedding of Cana, Water Turning into Wine is about transformation, in this case rhythmic transformation through metric modulation.