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

Friday, April 10, 2026

"The Tree of Life"

"The Tree of Life" was the hymn in the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service on 23 February, and I noticed a couple small features in it.

It's sung to the tune "Tree of Life."  Here's the first musical phrase:


The text here is "The tree of life with ev'ry good" (the sense continues into the next line:  "In Eden's holy orchard stood").  The phrase "ev'ry good" is sung to notes of all different pitches (D C A), lending a sense of this breadth.

Near the end of the first verse, there's the line "Its lovely limbs with fruit adorned."  The phrase "lovely limbs" exhibits consonance, and the euphony of this effect matches the meaning of the description itself.