---
title: Name that Tune!
description: If you’ve ever paged through the tune index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, you may have noticed that some entries are indented and italicized.
---

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# [Prelude Music Blog](https://blog.preludemusicplanner.org)

# Name that Tune!

 by [Chad Fothergill](https://blog.preludemusicplanner.org/author/chad-fothergill)

If you’ve ever paged through the tune index of *Evangelical Lutheran Worship*, you may have noticed that some entries—see, for instance, **Ach bleib mit deiner Gnade** and **Agincourt Hymn**—are indented and italicized. As was practiced in *[Lutheran Book of Worship](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9780800633301/Lutheran-Book-of-Worship-Pew-Edition)* and *Service Book and Hymnal*, these specially formatted entries indicate other names used for tunes by previous hymnals or, in some cases, by other denominations.

A leisurely stroll through any hymnal companion such as *[Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9780806653945/Hymnal-Companion-to-Evangelical-Lutheran-Worship)* often provides fascinating glimpses into the origins of tune names, as well as ways in which names have changed across generations of hymnal compilation, editing, and production. The practice of assigning tune names emerged in English psalters around the turn of the seventeenth century, and Thomas Ravenscroft’s 1621 psalter was the first publication to systematically assign names—usually of towns with important cathedrals—to its tunes. Have you ever looked for a setting of the tune **Southwell**? If so, thank Mr. Ravenscroft for that name! Have you ever heard the tune for the hymn “Beautiful Savior” referred to simultaneously as **Crusader’s Hymn**, **St. Elizabeth**, and **Schönster, Herr Jesu**? If so, thank composer Franz Liszt, who borrowed this nineteenth-century Silesian folk melody for the “crusader’s march” in his 1873 oratorio, *The Legend of St. Elizabeth*!

As naming tunes became widespread practice, Lutheran chorale melodies came to be known by their first few words such as **Ein feste Burg** or **Vom Himmel hoch**. However, this posed a problem for multiple texts that were sung to the same melody, resulting in several hymn tune “homonyms,” or melodies that sounded the same but were identified by different names. Depending on the composer or publisher, settings of what we know today as **Herzlich tut mich verlangen** might be titled **Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder**; **Befiehl du deine Wege**; or **O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden**. Hymnals from Anglican and Episcopal traditions often refer to this same melody as **Passion Chorale**. Even within a single denomination, names for the same tune may change as hymnal committees and publishers weigh new scholarship, tastes, and conventions. In *Evangelical Lutheran Worship*, tunes once named for their composers have been revised: **Weyse** (as it was known in *Service Book and Hymnal*) became **Den signede dag** while **Taulé** (as it was known in *[With One Voice](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9780806600512/With-One-Voice-Pew-Edition)*) became **Toda la tierra**.

Although the [family](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/category/286455/Evangelical-Lutheran-Worship?lv=true) of *Evangelical Lutheran Worship* resources such as *[Vocal Descants for the Church Year](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9780800679439/Vocal-Descants-for-the-Church-Year)* uses tune names matched to the hymnal itself, other collections shelved in our choral and organ libraries from a variety of times, places, and publishers may instead utilize some of these alternate names. Thus, it is easy to scan a resource’s listing of tunes and miss a melody that is actually included in *Evangelical Lutheran Worship*. For example, Bach’s so-called “Schübler” organ chorales contain a setting of **Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter**, a melody we know as **Lobe den Herren**. Similarly, some editions of Buxtehude’s chorale-based organ works include a set of variations on **Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott**, but many will recognize the melody as **Vater unser**.

Accordingly, the following list (far from comprehensive) is offered as a starting place for recognizing both common and lesser-known tune “homonyms,” and will hopefully assist organists, instrumentalists, and cantors in making the most of older or seemingly obsolete collections that hold wonderful treasures hidden under different names.

Bolded tune names indicate those used by *Evangelical Lutheran Worship* (with associated hymn numbers in parentheses), and alternate names for each tune are shown in *italics*.

**An Wasserflüssen Babylon** (340) | *Ein Lämmlein geht*

**Assurance** (638) | *Blessed Assurance*

**Austria** (823) | *Austrian Hymn* | *Haydn*

**Bicentennial** (484) | *Gift of Finest Wheat*

**Chesterfield** (239, 551) | *Richmond*

**Christus, der ist mein Leben** (539) | *Ach, bleib mit deiner Gnade*

**Converse** (742) | *Erie*

**Dejlig er den himmel blå** (301) | *Celestia*

**Den blomstertid nu kommer** (830) | *Blomstertid*

**Den signede dag** (627) | *Weyse*

**Den store hvide flok** (425) | *Behold a Host* | *Great White Host*

**Deo gracias** (316, 322) | *Agincourt Hymn*

**Det kimer nu til julefest** (298) | *Emmanuel*

**Divinum mysterium** (295) | *Corde natus ex parentis*

**Dix** (302, 879) | *Treuer Heiland*

**Dundee** (758, 863) | *French Tune*

**Easter Hymn** (365) | *Worgan*

**Ebenezer** (327, 511) | *Ton-y-Botel*

**El desembre congelat** (299) | *Lo desembre congelat*

**Ellacombe** (361, 521, 722) | *Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern*

**Es ist das Heil** (442, 590) | *St. Paul*

**Fred til bod** (380, 381) | *Easter Glory*

**Freu dich sehr** (256, 672, 783) | *Genevan 42*

**Gabriel’s Message** (265) | *Basque Carol*

**Gelobt sei Gott** (385) | *Vulpius*

**Gethsemane** (347, 609) | *Ajalon* | *Petra* | *Redhead* | *Readhead No. 76*

**Grosser Gott** (414) | *Hursley* (closely related variant) | *Te Deum*

**Her kommer dine arme små** (286) | *Paedia*

**Herr Jesu Christ, meins** (404) | *Breslau*

**Herzlich tut mich verlangen** (351, 352, 606) | *Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder* | *Befiehl du deine Wege* | *O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden* | *Passion Chorale*

**I Am the Bread** (485) | *Bread of Life (Toolan)*

**Ist Gott für mich** (788) | *Roland’s Tune*

**Iste confessor** (766) | *Rouen*

**Italian Hymn** (408, 673) | *Giardini* | *Moscow* | *Trinity*

**Jeg er så glad** (271) | *Christmas Eve*

**Jesus Loves Me** (595) | *China*

**Kuortane** (313, 576) | *Nyland*

**Lobe den Herren** (858, 859) | *Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter*

**Munich** (514, 810) | *Meiningen* | *O Gott, du frommer Gott*

**Narodil se Kristus Pán** (291) | *Be Ye Joyful* | *Salvator natus*

**National Anthem** (891) | *America* | *National Hymn*

**Nyt ylös, sieluni** (827) | *Suomi*

**O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte** (833) | *König*

**O Heiliger Geist** (405) | *O Jesulein süss*

**O Jesu, än de dina** (468) | *Franzén*

**O Welt, ich muss dich lassen** (480, 568) | *Innsbruck*

**Old 124th** (321) | *Genevan 124* | *Toulon*

**Rendez à Dieu** (478) | *Genevan 98* | *Genevan 118*

**Romedal** (730) | *Herre Gud, dit dyre navn*

**St. Magnus** (432) | *Nottingham*

**Salzburg** (310, 876) | *Alle Menschen müssen sterben*

**Schönster Herr Jesu** (838) | *Crusader’s Hymn* | *St. Elizabeth*

**Sicilian Mariners** (545) | *O sanctissima*

**Song** **13** (398) | *Light Divine*

**Spirit Life** (457) | *Waterlife (Hanson)*

**Terra Patris** (824) | *Terra beata*

**Thompson** (608) | *For You and For Me* | *Softly and Tenderly*

**Toda la tierra** (266) | *Taulé*

**Tryggare kan ingen vara** (781) | *Sandell*

**Tuya es la gloria** (849) | *Rio de la Plata*

**Unser Herrscher** (533) | *Neander*

**Valet will ich dir geben** (344) | *St. Theodulph*

**Vater unser** (746, 747) | *Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott*

**Victory** (366) | *Palestrina*

**Ville du Havre** (785) | *It Is Well*

**Wade in the Water** (459) | *Trouble the Water*

**Walton** (658, 719) | *Beethoven* | *Fulda* | *Gardiner* | *Germany* | *Melchizedec*

**Warum sollt ich** (273) | *Ebeling*

**Was frag ich nach der Welt** (806) | *Darmstadt* | *O Gott, du frommer Gott*

**Waterlife** (732) | *Borning Cry*

**Wer nur den lieben Gott** (769) | *Neumark*

**Werde munter** (501) | *Jesu, Joy*

**Yigdal** (831) | *Leoni*

**Your Only Son** (336) | *Lamb of God*

 Posted on May 29, 2019 2:28:49 PM   
 Filed Under: [Hymnody](https://blog.preludemusicplanner.org/tag/hymnody),

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![Chad Fothergill](https://blog.preludemusicplanner.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Augsburg%20Fortress/AF_Prelude_Blog/Authors/chad-fothergill-avatar.png?width=100&height=100&name=chad-fothergill-avatar.png)

#### Written by [Chad Fothergill](https://blog.preludemusicplanner.org/author/chad-fothergill)

Chad Fothergill is a musicologist, organist, writer, and teacher based in Birmingham, Alabama.

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