This verse is the minimal definition of the “fruit meet” for baptism. The broken heart and a contrite spirit is an allusion to Psalms:
Psalms 34:18
18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
The connection of this verse in Psalms to the baptismal condition is particularly appropriate. The unrepentant man who declines baptism is necessarily defined as the natural man, who is “an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord... (Mosiah 3:19.) The acceptance of the atonement of Christ the Lord occurs in the ordinance of baptism. Thus when one is qualified for baptism, and accepts that ordinance, the natural man is put away, and man literally is more “nigh” to God.
The implication of the need to bring fruits of life to the baptismal covenant is that one must have had the gospel taught prior to baptism. One cannot properly approach the baptism without the prior instruction in the gospel so that one might understand the nature of the “fruits” to be brought to the baptism. While Moroni does not describe this pre-baptismal cathechism it is well known from the Old World baptismal rites. (Paul F. Bradshaw. The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 155).