Scripture References:
all st. = Gen. 1, Job 26:7-14; 38
Katherine K Davis (PHH 57) wrote this text for the tune ASH GROVE in the 1920s. The text was first published as an anthem and descant setting in 1939 (by E. C. Schirmer) under the name John Cowley, one of her pseudonyms. (Davis wrote “The Little Drummer Boy,” 1941, as well as many other songs under this and other pseudonyms.)
Employing Old Testament images, the text calls forth praise from all creatures and directs that praise to God the Creator. We praise God because he made us and provides for us (st. 1); we join our praise to that of the entire universe in a song of “hosanna and praise” (st. 2).
Liturgical Use:
For many worship services of praise and thanksgiving including, but by no means limited to, harvest thanksgiving; a doxology at the close of worship.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988
Katherine Kennicott Davis (b. St. Joseph, MO, 1892; d. Concord, MA, 1980) studied at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she was also a teaching assistant in music. From 1921 to 1929 she taught singing and piano in private schools in Concord, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After 1929 she devoted herself largely to music composition. She wrote some eight hundred pieces, most of which were choral (often writing under several pseudonyms). One of her most popular songs is "The Little Drummer Boy," originally called "Carol of the Drum" (1941). Her other publications include the folk operetta Cinderella (1933) and Songs of Freedom (1948).
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