Kevin Hildebrand’s collection of organ preludes on American hymn tunes is a timely publication in 2026 as the United States celebrates its semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of its founding. In those 250 years, American composers have made their distinctive mark on the musical landscape, especially through the folk and spiritual traditions.
Narratives in American Hymn Tunes
Many American hymn tunes that we know today find their heritage in these traditions. The songs found in these traditions lean on storytelling. They invoke the spirit of the American life: one of resiliency, entrepreneurship, and faith. The hymns that emerge from this tradition take on a similarly narrative format.
This narrative format is an American flavor of a medieval tradition that influenced Lutheran hymnody in the Reformation era: the ballad. Ballads were songs that told stories in a theatrical way, and Martin Luther himself patterned some of his hymns after this style (think of the text of “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” which tells the story of Christ’s birth, or “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice,” which tells the story of man’s redemption).
Many of the ten hymn tunes in this volume have multiple texts in Lutheran Service Book (LSB), making it a versatile collection for any church organist. While these tunes are all American, they can be used throughout the Church Year and shouldn’t be thought of as only “patriotic” selections for Independence Day celebrations this summer.
Hymn Tunes Featured in the Sampler
AZMON
The hymn tune AZMON accompanies “Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (528) and “Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death” (697) in LSB. It first appeared in the early nineteenth century in a Boston hymnal called The Modern Psalmist (1839).
AZMON’s melody contains pentatonic elements, using a five-note scale rather than the standard seven notes in the musical scale. This pentatonic style is distinctive of the American folk song tradition, and it appears in most of the hymn tunes featured in this volume.
FOUNDATION
The hymn tune FOUNDATION is synonymous with the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” (LSB 728). Its tune is purely pentatonic, utilizing only the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth degrees of the seven-note musical scale.
The tune first appeared in a Virginian hymnal called A Compilation of Genuine Church Music (1832). The text is a classic example of the folk storytelling genre: The first stanza addresses the “saints of the Lord” in a rhetorical exhortation, and the following four stanzas paraphrase the Savior’s response to the Christian.
LAND OF REST
The hymn tune LAND OF REST accompanies the hymns “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” (673), “Lord, When You Came as Welcome Guest” (859), and “Lord, Bid Your Servant Go in Peace” (937) in LSB. The tune first appeared in an 1836 Pittsburgh hymnal called The Christian’s Harp.
Although the text of “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” dates to seventeenth-century England, its prayerful, meditative focus foreshadows the spiritual tradition of American sacred folk texts. In it, the Christian longs for an end to the present sorrows of the church militant and looks with hope to the future joys of the church triumphant.
MARION
The hymn tune MARION accompanies “Rejoice, O Pilgrim Throng” (LSB 813). It first appeared in a protestant Episcopal hymnal in New York in 1893. The hymn text is very much in the vein of folk storytelling.
MCKEE
The hymn tune MCKEE accompanies “‘Away from Us!’ the Demon Cried’” (541) and “In Christ There Is No East or West” (653) in LSB. The tune is an African American spiritual. Although its author is unknown, the tune is named after Rev. Elmer M. McKee, who was rector of St. George’s Church in New York in the nineteenth century.
The spiritual is a distinctly American contribution to sacred music. It developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when enslaved African Americans sang religious folk songs amid their plantation life. The songs were marked by themes of bondage, redemption, suffering, and hope, and they were passed down orally through generations.
NETTLETON
The hymn tune NETTLETON accompanies “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (LSB 686). It first appeared in a 1813 Pennsylvania hymnal called A Repository of Sacred Music. The tune is highly compatible with the pentatonic scale.
OLIVET
The hymn tune OLIVET accompanies “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” (LSB 702). The tune was written by Lowell Mason (1792–1872), a key figure in American church music. Mason composed the popular arrangement to “Joy to the World” found in most choir books and hymnals, including LSB.
THE SAINTS’ DELIGHT
The hymn tune THE SAINTS’ DELIGHT accompanies “In Adam We Have All Been One” (LSB 569). Although this text doesn’t come from the American folksong tradition—it was written by Martin Franzmann in the mid-twentieth century—the tune certainly does. It has its origin in the shape-note tradition and first appeared in a South Carolina hymnal called Southern Harmony in 1835.
WONDROUS LOVE
The hymn tune WONDROUS LOVE is synonymous with “What Wondrous Love Is This” (LSB 543). Like THE SAINTS’ DELIGHT, it first appeared in Southern Harmony in 1835. It, too, comes from shape-note sources and follows the pentatonic scale.
WORCESTER
The hymn tune WORCESTER accompanies “Glory Be to God the Father” (LSB 506). The tune originally debuted in In Excelsis: hymns with tunes for Christian worship in New York (1897). This publication was a substantial product of The Century Co., and it is theorized that the company solicited Britain in 1896 for contributions to their forthcoming full collection. This is most likely where they found Walter G. Whinfield’s hymn tune and brought it to America.
These hymns are a wonderful addition to any organist’s repertoire to celebrate America and Lutheranism’s rich history. Use these specifically on the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and furthermore, anytime there’s an American holiday to celebrate at your church.
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