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

Friday, October 2, 2026

"My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker"

Last week, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 17 September, in which the hymn was "My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker" (sung to the tune "Nun lob, mein' Seel'").  I've written about it before, but I found some new features.

Previously, I noted that in the lines "He offers all His treasure... His love beyond all measure" at the beginning of the second verse, both "treasure" and "measure" are sung with a melisma (G A B), giving a sense of the entirety of "all."  I noticed recently that this extent is also illustrated in that the phrases "all His treasure" and "all measure" are sung to notes of all different pitches (E D G A B and D G A B, respectively), especially since both span a sixth.  Here's the notation for those lines (the first and third musical phrases are identical):


Near the end of the third verse are the lines "The wind but through them passes, / And all their bloom is o'er," the second of which is sung to this musical phrase:


Like the above, the phrase "all their bloom" is sung to notes of all different pitches (A D F#), giving a sense of breadth or extent, especially since the notes span a fifth.

In the middle of the fourth verse, the line "His rule is over all" is sung to this musical phrase:


In terms of pitch, "rule" (sung to an A) really is over "all" (sung to a D).  That "all" is sung to the longest note in the phrase also lends a sense of its meaning.