What Wondrous Love

The haunting melody of What Wondrous Love Is This is derived from a popular 18th century English ballad about the pirate Captain Kidd. The melody is sung in Dorian mode, with a lowered third and seventh, giving the tune its quiet, austere quality.

The text and melody were first published together in the United States in The Southern Harmony, a book of shape note hymns compiled by William Walker in the mid-1800s, who noted that it was a popular old Southern tune. Samuel Barber composed a theme and variations for organ on this melody called Wondrous Love: Variations On A Shape Note Hymn in 1958, to dedicate a new organ at Christ Episcopal Church in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

What Wondrous Love was first included in a standard hymnal in 1966 by the United Methodist Book of Hymns. Today, it is a widely known and beloved hymn, commonly utilized by many denominations during the Lenten season.