The first Bishop of Adelaide, Bishop Francis Murphy, was a musician. He arrived in 1844 with a seraphine (a precursor of the harmonium). He paid the fare of an organist from Sydney, Edmund Webbe, to play it. From its beginnings in 1845 at the original St Patrick's Church at West Terrace until the present day, the choir has provided a praiseworthy program of sacred music to glorify God.

The choir sings at the 11 am Solemn Mass on Sundays.

At the Vigil Mass and 9 am Sunday Mass there is congregational singing without a choir.

The 6 pm Sunday Mass also has congregational singing. On the last Sunday of each month the 6pm Mass is a Youth Mass. The music is organised by the Diocesan Office for Youth and Young Adults.

The cathedral organ is currently in storage awaiting a rebuild. For information about the previous organs, click here.

The cathedral's bells were cast between 1867 and 1995. They include the Murphy Bell, a memorial to the first bishop, and a ring of 12 bells with an additional semitone. The thirteen are not a carillon. In other words they do not play tunes. The St Francis Xavier bells are used for change-ringing which involves ringing in prescribed sequences according to arithmetic permutations.