Robert Indiana painted two works titled God is a Lily of the Valley, this work, in green and white, and a more colorful version on a field of red. The paintings were inspired by a gospel song Indiana heard late one night on the radio. Although Indiana never could track down the song, the art historian Thomas Crow has identified it as “God Can Do Anything But Fail.”
In both paintings, the large outer circle reads “God is a lily of the valley / He can do anything but fail.” This phrase reverses the original lyric: “God can do anything but fail / He’s a lily of the valley.” In this version of God is a Lily of the Valley, the four circles feature phrases of Indiana’s creation, and expand on the botanical metaphor of the title: “He is blossom / He is pistil / He is stamen / He is root.”