Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Friday, April 21, 2023

"With High Delight Let Us Unite"

Yester-day, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 14 April.  The hymn was "With High Delight Let Us Unite," and as I was following along in my hymnal, I noticed a feature to write about.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Mit Freuden zart."  Here's the sixth phrase, from roughly the middle of the tune:


In the third verse, the text here (continuing the sense from the previous lines "His honor speed / By word and deed") is "To ev'ry land, ev'ry nation."  "Ev'ry land" and "ev'ry nation" are both sung so that each syllable is sung to a different pitch (G F# E and F# G E D, respectively).  Such an articulation provides a sense of breadth.

The first verse ends with the line "Good news to save ev'ry nation," and while the musical phrase is different, "ev'ry nation" is sung to the same pitches noted above, producing the same effect.