Nuns of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation in their convent near Avignon, France. Their album of Gregorian chant will be released in November. (Decca Records/Associated Press)

A group of cloistered nuns in southern France have signed a major record deal with Decca Records.

The British label announced Sunday that the Benedictine nuns of the Abbaye de Notre Dame de l'Annonciation near Avignon were chosen after a worldwide search for female Gregorian chant performers.

Gregorian chant is a melodic ritual song that has its roots dating back to the sixth century.

The order still communicates with outsiders through a wooden grille to avoid intrusion into their life. They chant eight times each day.

"We never sought this, it came looking for us," the Rev. Mother Abbess told Agence-France Presse.

"At first we were worried it would affect our cloistered life, so we asked St. Joseph in prayer. Our prayers were answered and we thought that this album would be a good thing if it touches people's lives and helps them find peace."

Tom Lewis, head of Decca's talent division, said his department had to pick through entries from more than 70 convents in Europe, South Africa and the U.S.

'This is a sound of something ancient, unchanging and timeless.'—Tom Lewis, head of A&R at Decca Records

"When you hear the sound of nuns chanting, it's like an immediate escape from the challenges, stresses, pace and noise of modern living," noted Lewis back in March when Decca, an arm of Universal Music, posted the search notice.

"This is a sound of something ancient, unchanging and timeless."

Twenty-six out of the 28 nuns will sing on the record, Voices – Chant from Avignon, due out in November. A recording studio will be set up in a building on the abbey grounds.

Universal, in fact, first hit success with Gregorian chant back in the early 1990s with the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo De Silos in northern Spain. Their release, Chant, sold more than five million copies worldwide.

In 2008, the label signed the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz in Austria and released Chant: Music For Paradise, which sold more than a million copies. The monks have used their profits to fund their charitable works.