The Christmas Season is rich with tradition, and for many, nothing captures the spirit of the holiday like the familiar music of the carols. But behind the beautiful melodies and verses, are fascinating and surprising histories.
To celebrate the season, we’re taking a closer look at the history of our holiday music. We will focus on the surprising origins of three beloved Christmas hymns, stories of faith, recovery, and unexpected authorship.
Our full Hymn Sing service on December 21st, 2025 at 10:00 am will dive into the history of many more carols.
We welcome all who wish to come and listen and/or sing along!
O Holy Night
The epic and deeply emotional carol, “O Holy Night,” has one of the most remarkable and tumultuous histories of any Christmas hymn.
Its story begins in 1847 in Roquemaure, France. The local parish priest wanted something special for the Midnight Mass and asked his friend, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, a commissionaire of wines and a known poet, to write a festive poem. Cappeau, inspired by the Gospel of Luke, penned the words that would become “Cantique de Noel” (Christmas Song).
The next step was finding a musical setting. Cappeau turned to his friend, a popular composer named Adolphe Charles Adams. Adams, a Jewish composer best known today for his ballet Giselle, agreed to write the music. In a stunning display of creative collaboration, this profound meditation on the Nativity, written by a Catholic poet and set to music by a Jewish composer, was first sung at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
The song quickly became popular across France. However, when church leaders later discovered that Cappeau had left the church and Adams was Jewish, they declared the hymn “unsuitable” for Catholic worship. Despite the ban, the song was so loved by the common people that it continued to be sung across the country.
Its journey across the Atlantic is equally compelling. In America, abolitionist and Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight slightly changed some of the lyrics for his English translation in 1855. Dwight was particularly drawn to the lines that spoke about breaking the chains of slavery and seeing every person as a sister and brother, turning the hymn into a powerful anthem of social justice and human dignity.
What Child Is This?
The carol “What Child Is This?” carries a distinctive, almost melancholic sound, which comes from its unusual choice of tune: the traditional English folk song, “Greensleeves.”
The lyrics were written in 1865 by an English insurance salesman named William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898). Dix was only 29 years old when he was struck by a near-fatal illness that left him confined to his bed and suffering from severe depression for many months.
During this challenging time of recovery and spiritual reflection, Dix turned to writing hymns. The words for “What Child Is This?” came from a poem he wrote called “The Manger Throne,” which reflects deeply on the mystery and suffering that lay ahead for the Christ child, a theme that undoubtedly resonated with his own personal struggle with illness.
It was later paired with the “Greensleeves” melody when it was published in 1871. This famous folk tune is centuries older than the carol’s lyrics, with its history dating back to at least the 16th century. The combination of Dix’s profound, questioning text and the soulful, haunting melody of “Greensleeves” has created one of the most beautiful and evocative carols of the season, a testament to how creative works can be born from times of darkness and recovery.
Away in a Manger
This simple, gentle lullaby of the Nativity, “Away in a Manger,” is one of the most widely loved carols, especially by children. For decades, it was mistakenly believed to be the work of the great German reformer, Martin Luther, and was often published as Luther’s Cradle Hymn. However, its true origins are entirely American.
The carol is now thought to have originated among German Lutherans in Pennsylvania in the early to mid-1880s. The misconception linking it to Luther likely started as a way to honor the reformer during the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of his birth in 1883. The original two-stanza version of the poem first appeared in an American Lutheran publication in 1884.
The identity of the true author has been lost to history. It is a song that belongs to the community, a beautiful anomaly in hymnody.
Adding to its unique history, “Away in a Manger” has two prominent melodies in use today:
- “Mueller”: Published in 1887 by James Ramsey Murray, who included the apocryphal note that the hymn was “composed by Martin Luther for his children.”
- “Cradle Song”: Composed by William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895, which is the tune most often used outside of the United States.
Regardless of the melody or the unknown author, this carol remains a powerful expression of innocent faith and devotion, born not in Germany, but in the heart of the American Sunday School movement.