If angels sung a Savior’s birth, we well may imitate their mirth.
| Tune name | 2025 Edition | 1991 Edition | Cooper | Shenandoah | Text hints |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angel’s Hymn | – | – | – | 5t | “The Virgin’s promised son is born…” |
| Anthem on the Beginning | 553 | 553 | – | – | “In the beginning was the Word.” |
| Anthem on the Savior | - | 355 | – | – | “He … was born of the Virgin Mary, and was cradled in a manger.” |
| Babe of Bethlehem | – | – | – | 103 | “But in the hay the stranger lay with swaddling bands around him.” |
| Bennington | – | – | – | 408t | “Shepherds, rejoice! lift up your eyes…” |
| Bonnie Doon | – | – | – | 332 | “It is the Star of Bethlehem…” |
| Boston | – | – | – | 245 | “Methinks I see a heav’nly host of angels on thei wing…” |
| Carol | – | – | – | 448 | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” |
| Charlston | – | – | – | 262 | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” |
| Christmas Anthem | 225 | 225 | 225 | – | “Angelic armies tune their harps…” |
| Christmas Hymn | – | – | – | 387 | “Then let us be merry, cast sorrow away…” |
| Cookham | - | 81b | – | – | “’Hark!’ the herald angels sing…” |
| Easton | 259 | – | – | – | “What dost thou see, O watchman?” |
| Frewsburgh | – | – | – | 50 | “To shepherds, as they watched by night…” |
| Georgia | – | – | – | 386 | “Hark! Hark! what news the angels bring…” |
| Glory Shone Around | – | – | 98 | 180 | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” |
| Hark, Hark | – | – | – | 111 | “Hark! Hark! what news the angels bring…” |
| Hull | – | – | – | 139 | “The promised Son to us is giv’n…” |
| Joyful News | – | – | 244 | – | “Joy to the world! The Lord is come!” |
| Jubilee | 144 | 144 | 144 | – | “Glory, honor and salvation: Christ, the Lord is come to reign” |
| Judea | – | – | – | 388 | “A virgin unspotted the prophet fortold…” |
| Martyrs | – | – | – | 374 | “The year rolls round and steals away” (new year’s) |
| Messiah | 131t | 131t | 131t | – | “He comes, He comes!” |
| Milford | 273 | 273 | – | – | “If angels sung a Savior’s birth…we well may imitate their mirth” [1] |
| Morning Star | – | – | – | 220 | “How spendid shines the morning star…” |
| Nativity | 350 | 350 | – | – | A Christmas title |
| New Bethlehem | – | – | – | 252 | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” |
| Newbury | 453 | – | – | - | “If angels sung a Savior’s birth…we well may imitate their mirth” [1] |
| New Hosanna | 412 | 412 | 412 | – | “Hail the morn for unto us a Savior’s born.” |
| Northborough | – | – | – | 214 | “Behold the spendor, hear the shout…” |
| Northfield | 155 | 155 | 155 | – | “How long must this bright hour delay?” |
| Oxford | 306 | 306 | 306 | – | “Shepherds, rejoice! lift up your eyes…” |
| Plenary | 162 | 162 | 162 | – | “Auld Lang Syne” is often sung to this tune |
| Portuguese Hymn | - | 223 | 223 | – | “Haste with songs of triumph, to Bethlehem haste… “ |
| Rapturous Scene | – | – | – | 62 | “Hark, how cherubic armies shout and glory leads the song!” |
| Raymond | 441 | 441 | [2] | – | “Hark, the glad sound! the Savior comes…” |
| Redemption | 457 | “Mary, the wondrous virgin, bears” | |||
| Rejoice | – | – | 433 | – | “Shepherds, rejoice! lift up your eyes…” |
| Royal Band, The | 360 | 360 | 360 | – | “The angels in glory repeat the glad story…” |
| Shepherd’s Star, The [3] | – | – | 81 | “Hail the blest morn when the great mediator…” | |
| Shepherds Arise | – | – | – | 408b | “Shepherds arise! Be not afraid…” |
| Shepherds Rejoice | 152 | 152 | 291 | – | “Shepherds, rejoice! lift up your eyes…” |
| Sherburne | 186 | 186 | 186 | – | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” |
| Shiloh | – | – | – | 438b | “Methinks I see a heav’nly host of angels on their wing…” |
| Shining Star | - | 461 | – | “While shepherds watched their flocks by night…” | |
| Sky, The | – | – | 389 | – | “Join the full chorus of the sky.” |
| Sounding Joy | – | – | – | 272 | “Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns” |
| Star in the East (Major) [3] | 51 | – | 175 | 81 | “Go worship the Babe in the manger” |
| Star in the East (Minor) [3] | – | – | – | 132 | “Go worship the Babe in the manger” |
| Voice to the Shepherds | – | – | – | 239 | “Go, shepherds and visit the wonder…” |
| Wabash | – | – | – | 61 | A winter song: “’Tis winter now…” |
| Walworth | – | – | – | 54 | “Christians, awake! Salute the happy morn” |
| Winter | 38 | 38 | – | – | A Winter/Spring text |
| Wonder, The | – | – | 292 | – | A meditation on “The love of God unspeakable—’tis a wonder” |
| Wondrous Love | 159 | 159 | 159 | – | “When I was sinking down, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.” |
Many contributors, witting or not, including Chris Brown, Paul Figura, Rachel Hall, Tammy Heinsohn, Berkley Moore, Peter Ross, Terre Schill, Samuel Sommers, Jenna Faith Strizak and Matthew Wojcik. Any and all errors are mine, of course. And Samuel Sommers notes:
Other Advent songs [from the 1991 edition] would include 49b, 117, 130, 149, 151, 232, 250, 291, 421, 438, 495, 502, 567, and 572. Other advent hymns might include 102, 121, and 299. But when you consider that traditional sermon topics for Sundays in Advent are the Four Last Things (death, judgment, heaven and hell) one must grope to find a Sacred Harp tune which isn’t an Advent song.
—Will Fitzgerald, Christmas, 2005. Revised, Nov. 2006; December 2015; December, 2021; December, 2025.
This file is available as a Google Sheet.1: Written as an Easter hymn. Chris Brown and Matthew Wojcik noted that Milford’s poetry was “An Hymn for Easter Day,” which explains why “If Angels sung a Savior’s birth/on that auspicious morn/We well may imitate their birth/Now he again is born.”
2: Tune is similar to Cooper Book 198, but a different text.
3: What the Cooper Book and the 2025 edition of The Sacred Harp call Star in the East is called The Shepherd’s Star in The Shenandoah Harmony. Star in the East in The Shenandoah Harmony is a minor tune.