Thank you, Jackson. My own ordinary preference would be for a somewhat slower tempo, too, although I've encountered many who insist that the tempo in the video (about minim=60) or even a smidge faster is best. In the end, I chose the quicker tempo so as to create a shorter video whose file size isn't too large.

In larger buildings, slower tempi? The singing (and thus the tempo) should be robust but never bloated and inert.

40 is perfect.

For further comparison, here is the work, as performed at the Sacred Music Colloquium XXI on 14th June of 2011. From the timing (beginning when everyone starts singing), it appears that the initial tempo is about minim=48. This was hardly sung in a dead room!!

I’m on that recording from 2011, it was a glorious experience!

Here's an organ recording if this is helpful to anyone. I was so taken with this that I decided to record it for my choir. I should note that I do not combine the descants, however.

Thank you ServiamScores! For some reason, the YouTube video won't link, but here it is embedded:

Thanks, Joseph Michael. I didn't think to check the English Hymnal. Personally, I've tended to use 48 with a slowing to about 42-45 for the final stanza when both descants are sung together. I think I'll try to reprogram myself to work in the minim=44 mode.

The fact that the descants have more motion than the melody is not an accident. When one ponders the meaning of Pentecost, with its tongues of fire, and speaking in tongues, and sheer joy at the descent of the Holy Spirit, one might be led to appreciate the descants as some musical/aural manifestation of the Pentecost events.