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

Friday, June 5, 2026

"Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest"

A couple years ago, I noticed two small features in "Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" (paired with the tune "Komm, Gott Schöpfer").

The fourth verse starts with the line "Your light to ev'ry thought impart," sung to this musical phrase:


The words "ev'ry thought" are sung to notes of all different pitches (spanning a fifth:  Eb F Bb), giving a sense of this extent.

The third verse ends with the lines "While You with tongues of fire proclaim / To all the world His holy name."  The second of these is sung to this musical phrase:


Similar to the above, the phrase "all the world" is sung to notes of all different pitches (again spanning a fifth:  Bb G Eb), lending some sense of the entirety of "all."