This delightful carol for spring first appeared in Piae Cantiones (Sacred Songs), printed by Theodoric Petri in Nyland, Finland, 1582. Even though the texts of this collection were in Latin, it was a Protestant publication, with this full title: Sacred Songs of Church and Cloister of the clergy of past ages, in common use in the Renowned Realm of Sweden; newly and accurately revised and corrected by the labour of the same most reverend and honorable member of the Church of God, and of the School of Åbo in Finland, Theodoric Petri of Nyland, now committed to print, 1582.

Around 1850, G. J. R. Gordon, Her Majesty’s envoy and minister at Stockholm, brought back a copy to England and gave it to the translator, John M. Neale, who wrote words for several of the carols. For this tune he wrote “Good King Wenceslas.” While working on the Oxford Book of Carols, 1928, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Dearmer, and Martin Shawelected to use their own free translation of the spring carol from Piae Cantiones, beginning “Tempus adest floridum”(The time of flowers is here). This is the version SDAH uses, omitting stanzas 4 and 5.

The Methodist Hymnal, 1964, is one of the very few present-day books to use this spring carol. SDAH uses the same arrangement by Ernest MacMillan, considered Canada’s most noted musician. Born August 18, 1893, in Mimico, Ontario, into the home of a Presbyterian minister and hymn book editor, Ernest grew up in an atmosphere of church music. At age 10, he played the organ at Massey Hall, Toronto, and at 13 won the Bronze Medal for harmony at University of Edinburgh, Scotland. At age 18, he won the highest mark of all candidates for the Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and graduated B. Mus. from Oxford University.

While attending the Bayreuth Wagner Festival in 1914, MacMillan was interned and spent World War I as a prisoner. Making the most of his time, he composed Ode for Chorus and Orchestra, which won for him the D. Mus. from Oxford in 1918. Back in Canada, he had a most distinguished career as a teacher, administrator, church musician, organ recitalist, and conductor. He was conductor of the Toronto Symphony, 1931–1956, and of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, 1942–1957. King George VI knighted him in 1935 for his services to the cause of music in Canada, the first person in the Commonwealth outside of the United Kingdom to receive such an honor. He was a humble man, but one who always insisted on the highest standards of excellence. He died in Toronto on May 6, 1973.