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

Friday, August 15, 2025

"My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"

One of the hymns in a church service I attended last month was "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" (paired with the tune "Magdalen").  I noticed a small feature in the last line of the third verse:  "He then is all my hope and stay," sung to this musical phrase:


"All" is sung to a dotted quarter note.  This is the longest note in the phrase, and to some degree, this greater duration lends a sense of the entirety of that "all."