The text Adam lay Ybounden can be found in a book of middle English Lyrics, dating from the 15th Century. The manuscript is now held by the Britsh Library. The text to this song (the original music has long disappeared) deal with the story from Genesis, but from the prospective of medieval theology, with Adam being bound after death with the patriarchs for "four thousand winter" until the crucifixion of Christ. The story here is handled in a very humane way, and expresses a true individuality of mind.
Carson P. Cooman has not set the original English, but a slight update. I will give the original text here:
Adam
lay i-bowndyn,
bowndyn
in a bond,
Fowre
thowsand wynter
thowt
he not to long
And
al was for an appil,
an
appil that he tok.
As
clerkes fyndyn wretyn
in
here book.
Ne
hadde the appil take ben,
the
appil taken ben,
Ne
hadde never our lady
a
ben hevene quen.
Blyssid
be the tyme
that
appil take was!
Therefore
we mown syngyn
Deo
gratias!
Coonan's setting (his opus 576! He is a prolific composer) is lively and fanfare-like; the original uses brass as well. Coonan keeps the rhythms jagged throughout, bouncing between 3/4 and 5/8, following the sharp outlines of the text itself. If you'd like to hear the piece, here is one from YouTube.
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