Seven Hymnals Since 1789

The Hymnal 1982 is the seventh hymnal the Episcopal Church's General Convention has authorized since 1789, following predecessors approved in 1826, 1871, 1892, 1916 and 1940. That continuity matters more for this denomination than for most, because the Episcopal Church requires that hymn texts sung in worship come from an officially approved source rather than leaving the choice to individual congregations or publishers. The Standing Commission on Church Music, working from decades of preparation by a Joint Commission on Church Music first established in 1919, compiled the 720 hymn collection with Raymond F. Glover serving as general editor, and General Convention approved it in 1982, with printed copies following in 1985.

Its immediate predecessor, The Hymnal 1940, could not simply be reprinted with a few additions, because the Episcopal Church had revised its Book of Common Prayer in 1979, and the new prayer book's expanded liturgical texts needed matching service music and chant sections the older hymnal had never been built to carry. The Hymnal 1982's much larger service music component exists specifically to answer that 1979 prayer book, tying the two books together as companion volumes rather than as separately evolving traditions.