Music has qualities that correspond well with what religion, in a broad sense, aspires to be. Four musical qualities—timbre, the tonal system of Western music, time relations within the tonal network, and the non-referential nature of music—are linked to John Dewey's definition of 'the religious.' An analogy can be drawn between musical and religious experience: both composers and musicians challenge listeners to explore hidden religiosity in musical performance.
Music can generate non-institutional religious experience through aesthetic and performative practice. Analyzing Joep Franssens' composition Harmony of the Spheres, the article argues that its slow harmonic movement, repetition, tonal affirmation, unintelligible text, spatial sonority, and evocation of timelessness invite immersive listening and self-transcendence. A digital ethnographic reading of YouTube listener responses shows that listeners frequently interpret these musical techniques through religious and spiritual language, referencing God, angels, heaven, the sublime, peace, and mystical experience. The article contends that the work functions as "religion in sound" rather than explicitly confessional music, enabling transcendence and unbound spirituality outside traditional religious institutions.