"From Greenland's Icy Mountains"

Two years ago, I happened to look at "From Greenland's Icy Mountains" in Lutheran Worship (#322), and I noticed that the first verse contains a number of merisms.  The first few lines name specific countries ("From Greenland's icy mountains / To India's coral strand") and continents ("From Africa's bright fountains / To Asia's golden sand"), but the third pair is more general ("From many an upland river / To many a coastal plain").  Because of the great distances between these places or the marked differences in these geographic features (both "icy mountains" to "coral strand" and "upland river" to "coastal plain"), naming them in pairs like this provides a sense of breadth.