What Wondrous Love is This Hymn Story

We sang “What Wondrous Love is This” last week during our Lenten service.  Both the music and lyrics haunted me – so lovely and meaningful and full of love. This hymn invites us to pause and ponder the wonderful love from God and the gift of grace.

The music is based on an American folk hymn of unknow origin. It is known, however, that the tune was discovered by composer William Walker on his journey through the Appalachian region of America and probably dates to the early 1800s.  Though the tune had been around for many years, it was passed on by rote, and not written down. The Appalachian region is well known for having many Irish and Scottish immigrants, which is shown in the hymns haunting text and minor tune.

We actually are not sure who wrote the lyrics either – researchers write several stories, but someone somewhere created a masterpiece to refresh our souls.  It was used often as a camp song and was very popular during the Second Great Awakening.

What Wondrous Love is this speaks to the core of who we are and how our souls are loved beyond our imagination by God.

Originally, the text appears to have had six stanzas, and all six are found in most of the early hymnals. However, a handful only had four, or even one, stanza depending on what the hymnal was used for or the denomination.

Listen and sing along here:

Think about those words: What wondrous love is this?! What does this mean to you?