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

Friday, July 24, 2026

"O Christ, Our True and Only Light"

Last week, I finally caught up on watching the last couple summer chapel services from Concordia University Wisconsin.  In the service from 17 June, the hymn was "O Christ, Our True and Only Light," and while I've written about small features in it twice before, I found two more.

Both are in the third musical phrase (the tune is "O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht"):


In the third verse, the text here is "Let ev'ry conscience sore oppressed" (the sense continues into the next line:  "In You find peace and heav'nly rest").  "Conscience" is sung with a melisma, giving a sense of the range of "ev'ry" (especially since the notes are all different pitches:  A G F#).

In the fourth verse, the text is "Unite all those who walk apart."  Similar to the above, "those" is sung with a melisma (A G), hinting at the entirety of "all."