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

Friday, October 3, 2025

"Jerusalem, O City Fair and High"

"Jerusalem, O City Fair and High" was the hymn in the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service on 27 August, and I noticed three instances where phrases that begin with "all" are sung to notes of all different pitches, giving a sense of this breadth or entirety.

In the third verse, the line "With all Christ's foll'wers true" is sung to this musical phrase (from the tune "Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt"):


"All Christ's foll'wers" is sung to the notes A E F# G#.  Because one of these (G#) is an accidental, there's an even further sense of breadth.

In the fourth verse, the lines "And all its host rejoices, / And all its blessed throng" (the sense continues into the next line:  "Unite their myriad voices," which I've written about before) are sung to these phrases:


"All its host" is sung to the notes B C# D, and "all its blessed throng" to the notes B A G F# E.