"From God the Father, Virgin-Born"

Last year, I noticed a handful of small features in "From God the Father, Virgin-Born," but since it's an Epiphany hymn, I had to wait until it was seasonally appropriate to write about.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Deus tuorum militum."  Here's the first musical phrase:

In the sixth verse, the text here is "To You, O Lord, all glory be."  The phrase "all glory" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F Eb D C), and "glory" is sung with a melisma (Eb D C), and both of these features provide a sense of the entirety of that "all."

The third musical phrase:

In the sixth verse, the text here is "To God, whom all His hosts adore," and it exhibits the same sort of feature:  "hosts" is sung with a melisma (Eb D), giving a sense of that "all."

The fourth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "And take away the stain of sin."  "Away" is sung with a melisma (Bb F Eb), giving a sense of movement, although more metaphorical than literal.

In the fifth verse, the text is "From ev'ry harm Your people shield."  The phrase "ev'ry harm" is sung with a melisma and to all different pitches (G A Bb | F Eb), so as with "all glory" above, there's a sense of entirety or breadth.