In 1924 Ernest Edwin Ryden (1886-1981; see SDAH 37) wrote this hymn, based on Simeon’s prayer in Luke 2:29-32: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” No. 837 in the Scripture Readings section of SDAH is the Jerusalem Bible version of this prayer, commonly known throughout Christendom by its first two Latin words, “Nunc Dimittis.”

Ryden’s hymn was first published in The Hymnal, 1925, by the Lutheran Church, Augustana Synod. Alterations have been made to change “thee” and “thou” to “you” and “your.”

The Finnish tune NYLAND appeared in the 1909 edition of Finland’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Chorale Book. A recent version of that book states that NYLAND is a folk tune first sung near Kuortane, a small village in south Ostrobothnia, Finland. (The tune is sometimes called KUORTANE.) The harmonization SDAH uses was made by David Evans (1874-1948; see Biographies), musical editor of Revised Church Hymnary, 1927. He used the tune in that book, introducing it for the first time to English congregations. The name Nyland (a province in Finland) was given it by Millar Patrick, a coeditor of Revised Church Hymnary, 1927.