Last year, I found some interesting features in "Christ, the Word of God Incarnate." It's sung to the tune "Holy Manna," in which there are eight musical phrases but six of these are the same two repeated:
The third verse ends with the lines "Fruitful branches in Your vineyard / Till eternal life we gain." "Eternal" is sung with a melisma (C D F F), musically giving a sense of that duration.
The first four lines of the sixth verse (sung to the above notation twice through) are:
Christ, the Alpha and Omega,
Christ, the firstborn from the dead,
Christ, the life and resurrection,
Christ, the Church's glorious head
"Alpha," "firstborn," and "head" are all sung to the tonic note (F), and this musical sense of primacy and importance matches the meanings of these words.
