The version here printed of this old familiar children’s hymn is from The Memonite Hymnal, 1969, and information about it comes from that book and its companion volume. The words were written by August Diedrich Rische, who was born in Minden, near Hanover, Northwest Germany, in 1819. He studied theology at the University of Halle, near Leipzig. In 1844 he became a private tutor and in 1851 was pastor in Schwindendorf, in the state of Mecklenburg. In 1900 he was a member of the bishop’s consistory court in Ludwigslust, also in Mecklenburg. For 10 years he was editor of Sunday papers in Mecklenburg and published song collections. He died in 1906.

The hymn appeared in a German Lutheran hymnal in America in 1873. After translation into English, it was used in only three successive Mennonite hymnals. The composition paraphrase was made and appeared in The Youth Hymnary, 1956, and the The Hymn Book, 1969 (Canadian Mennonite Brethren). 

It is thought that the early source of the tune was a folk song. The tune name GOTT IST DIE LIEBE comes from the first line of the German original. In Deutscher Liederhort authors Erk and Boehme list a version of this song. The German hymnal Gesangbuch Der Mennoniten, 1965, indicates “Meiningen,” 1840, but the editors of that book give no further documentation.