LoHowaRose

This charming old carol comes to us from Germany's Rhineland. It was first published in 1599 in Cologne but could date from the 15th century or perhaps even earlier. Michael Praetorius harmonized it in 1609, and Theodore Baker, the American music scholar who first compiled the Biographical Dictionary of Musicians in 1900, is credited with the English translation. In some hymnals, the carol appears as "I Know a Rose-Tree Springing" or "Behold a Branch Is Growing" from its original German text, "Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen."

Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung,
Of Jesse's lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came a floweret bright
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind.
With Mary we behold it, the Virgin Mother kind.
To show God's love aright
She bore to men a Saviour
When half spent was the night.