This statue was funded by part of the construction budget for the East Capitol Campus, built between 1961 and 1976, which was set aside for artwork. A selection committee, including a sculptor, museum curator, and landscape architect, chose James Washington, Jr.'s three-stone artwork titled Mysteries of Life as one of two pieces for a park near the Transportation Building.

In the 1950s, Washington Jr. started using stone instead of canvas for his art. His first stone statue, carved from Italian limestone, was called Young Queen of Ethiopia. He later gave this piece to the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. Over the years, Washington's carvings often included themes from both classical art and African American culture.

On the Capitol Campus, Mysteries of Life shows a "creation" theme with many religious and nature symbols, such as a fish (a universal symbol for the Christian Church), a rabbit (representing the lower animal kingdom), and a fetus (representing the higher animal kingdom).