The words are based on the Advent antiphons and were first translated by J M Neale. Thomas Lacey, an editor of the first edition of
The English Hymnal (1906) made the translations that are usually sung today. The tune was first noted in Thomas Helmore’s
Hymnal Noted (1852) and its provenance may be traced to a Missal in the Bibliothèque Nationale of France. Here it is performed in the version that J H Arnold made for the 1933 edition of
The English Hymnal.
from notes by Andrew Burn © 2006
;)
