Jacob's first major success was written during his student years: the "William Byrd Suite" for orchestra based on the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Boult conducted the first performance in February 1923. "The Times" called it "a brilliant piece of adaptation", and expressed the hope that it would be heard again. The music critic for "The Times" commented in 1932 that there was "something magical" about the way in which Jacob's arrangements transformed the original music into scores that might make the listener think that the new version was what the composer really intended.