I couldn't help wondering where the tale came from, and got a partial answer from the Catholic Encyclopaedia. Jeremias, a "prophet" who lived at the end of the 7th and the early part of the 6th Centuries BC, from near Jerusalem, wrote some of the story. He said it was an Egyptian Folk Tale of the journey of Si-Osiris, the son of Setme Chamois to the underworld, which concludes with the words: 'He who has been good on earth, will be blessed in the kingdom of the dead.' Alexandrian Jews brought this story to Palestine, where it became very popular as the story of the poor scholar and the rich publican Bar Ma'Jan. In a dream, the fate of these two men in the next world was seen. A few days after both men were buried the scholar was seen in gardens of paradisal beauty, watered by flowing streams. Bar Ma'Jan the publican was seen standing on the bank of a stream and trying to reach the water, but unable to do so.
Both Jesus and the Pharisees would have been familiar with this folklore, according to Jeremias.

The arrangement by Holst, using the tune "Kingsfold," is more pleasing to me than the Vaughn Williams arrangement. The verses and the midi are at: Dives (Holst)
The Holst arrangement can be heard on the Hyperion cd "This I Have Done For My True Love," sung by the Holst Singers.