late 14c., "hymn sung after the Hallelujah and before the Gospel," from Old French sequence "answering verses" (13c.), from Medieval Latin sequentia "a following, a succession," from Latin sequentem (nominative sequens), present participle of sequi "to follow" (see sequel). In Church use, a partial loan-translation of Greek akolouthia, from akolouthos "following." General sense of "succession," also "a sequence at cards," appeared 1570s.

"arrange in a sequence," 1954, from sequence, n.. Related: Sequenced; sequencing.