"God of Grace and God of Glory"

Last month, I wrote a post on "God of Grace and God of Glory."  One of the features I noted was that "long" in the lines "From the fears that long have bound us / Free our hearts to faith and praise" is sung with a melisma for a sense of duration.  A few days after that post was published, I lookt at the version of "God of Grace and God of Glory" in Lutheran Worship and discovered a slight difference.

In The Lutheran Service Book, "long" is sung with a two-note melisma (F E):

In Lutheran Worship, "long" is sung with a three-note melisma (G F# G):

This isn't a particularly significant difference, but because of that extra note, there is a bit more emphasis in the Lutheran Worship version.

"God of Grace and God of Glory"

A little over a year ago, "God of Grace and God of Glory" was one of the hymns I sang in church, and I noticed a small feature in the second verse.  The third and fourth lines are "From the fears that long have bound us / Free our hearts to faith and praise," sung to these phrases from the tune "Cwm Rhondda":

"Long" is sung with a melisma (F E), musically giving a sense of duration.

Years ago, I also noticed an-other small feature.  The first two lines of the hymn are "God of grace and God of glory, / On Your people pour Your pow'r," sung to these phrases:

"Pour Your pow'r" is sung to a descending group of notes (A G F), illustrating this "pour[ing]."

"Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer"

Back in August last year, I noticed a small feature in "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer."  The last few lines of the hymn are "Songs of praises, songs of praises / I will ever give to Thee; / I will ever give to Thee."  The last "I will ever give to Thee" is sung to this phrase (from the tune "Cwm Rhondda"):

The "ever" is sung with a melisma (B D C A), and because it's stretched out, there's a musical sense of duration.