This Joyful Eastertide

This Joyful Eastertide is a hymn text by George Ratcliffe Woodward (1902) in 7.7.7.7 with refrain meter. Found in CW21 449, CW93 160, ch95 227, elw 391. Sung to VRUECHTEN.

The hymn proclaims the central Christian conviction of Christ's resurrection as the foundation of redemption and hope, emphasizing the victory over sin and death that defines Easter faith. In Lutheran theology, this resurrection hope anchors believers' confidence in justification and eternal life through Christ alone.

History & Background

Written by English hymnodist George Ratcliffe Woodward in 1902, this hymn first appeared in The Cowley Carol Book. It became widely adopted in Lutheran hymnals throughout the 20th century, particularly valued for its joyful Easter proclamation and singable melody.

George R. Woodward (b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, Scripture References 1848; d. Highgate, London, England, 1934) wrote the text of st. 2 = 1 Cor. 15:51-52 this Easter carol to fit the VRUCHTEN tune. The text expresses ref. = 1 Cor. 15:14,20 the joy Christ’s resurrection brings to believers (st. 1); thatjoy provides a sense of security throughout our lives (st. 2) and gives confidence even in the face of death (st. 3). The hymn was first published in Woodward’s Carolsfor Easter and Ascension (1894), which later became a part of the 1902 edition of his famous Cowley Carol Book. Educated at Caius College in Cambridge, England, Woodward was ordained in the Church of England in 1874. He served in six parishes in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk. He was a gifted linguist and translator of a large number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German. But Woodward’s theory of translation was a rigid one—he held that the translation ought to reproduce the meter and rhyme scheme of the original as well as its contents. This practice did not always produce singable hymns; his translations are therefore used more often today as valuable resources than as congregational hymns. With Charles Wood he published three series of The Cowley Carol Book (1901,1902, 1919), two editions of Songs of Syon (1904,1910), An Italian CarolBook (1920), and the Cambridge CarolBook (1924). Much of the unfamiliar music introduced in The English Hymnal (1906) resulted from Woodward’s research. He also produced an edition of the Piae Cantiones of 1582 (1910) and published a number of his translations in Hymns of the Greek Church (1922). 562 EASTER Time VRUCHTEN is originally a seventeenth-century Dutch folk tune for the love song “De liefde Voortgebracht. ” It became a hymn tune in Joachim Oudaen’s David’s Psalmen (1685) as a setting for “Hoe groot de vruchten zijn.” The tune is distinguished by the melismas that mark the end of stanza lines and by the rising sequences in the refrain, which provide a fitting word painting for “arisen. ” Although the melody has a wide range, it has become a popular Easter carol in modern hymnals. The harmonization by Dale Grotenhuis makes for glorious part singing (many hymnals use a harmonization by Charles Wood). Use medium organ accompaniment, possibly with a trumpet stop or real trumpets.

Hymnal Appearances

• Christian Worship: Hymnal — 449
• Christian Worship — 160
• Chalice Hymnal — 227
• Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 391
• Glory to God — 248
• The Hymnal 1982 — 193
• Lutheran Book of Worship — 149
• Lutheran Service Book — 482
• Lift Up Your Hearts — 189
• Lutheran Worship — 140
• New Century Hymnal — 240
• Psalter Hymnal — 403
• Voices Together — 275
• With One Voice — 676

Liturgical Use

Easter season; funerals.

Bulletin Note

Written by English hymnologist George Ratcliffe Woodward in 1902, this Easter hymn draws on the Dutch tune VRUECHTEN (meaning 'fruits') and has become a staple of modern Protestant worship for its direct proclamation of resurrection hope.

Preaching Connection

This hymn embodies the Lutheran heart of Law and Gospel: it names death and sin's power, then pivots entirely to Christ's resurrection as the sole ground of our justification and eternal life.

Catechism & Confessional Connections

• Of Justification Augsburg Confession

Stanza Arc

The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From natural resurrection imagery (stanza 1) through Christ's death and resurrection (stanzas 2-3) to personal spiritual renewal (stanza 4); Law gives way to Gospel's transformative power

In the Church Year

Suggested in the one-year series

• Easter 4 (3×)
• Easter 5 (3×)
• Easter Vigil (2×)
• Easter 2 (1×)

Suggested in the three-year series

• Easter 3 (4×)
• Easter 2 (2×)

From LCMS Worship's published hymn suggestions, 2014–2026. The count is how many of those yearly lists suggested this hymn for that day.

Overview

An Easter carol that is an argument from 1 Corinthians 15. Its refrain reasons as Paul does: if Christ had not burst his three-day prison, our faith would be vain; but now Christ has arisen. The three stanzas apply that fact to the three things it changes, sin and sorrow now, the moment of dying, and the body's rest in the grave until the last trumpet. Woodward wrote it to fit a seventeenth-century Dutch tune whose rising scale on 'arisen, arisen' makes the refrain sound like its subject. Short as it is, it covers the Easter Gospel from the empty tomb to the resurrection of the dead.

Central theme: Because Christ is risen, faith is not in vain: sin and sorrow, death and the grave have lost their hold

Structure

Three stanzas of 67 67 with a refrain. St. 1: Easter and the end of sin and sorrow; st. 2: death as a river Jesus has crossed; st. 3: the body's sleep and the last trumpet. Each stanza ends on a colon, so the refrain supplies its ground. (The refrain is not counted as a stanza.)

Law & Gospel Shape

The refrain states the Law's possibility honestly: without the resurrection faith is vain. Law also in the enemies named: sin, sorrow, death's flood, the grave. Gospel: 'But now has Christ arisen', and each stanza's confidence that follows from it.

Confessional Connections

The refrain is 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 20, the hinge of the Third Article's 'resurrection of the body'. The resurrection is confessed as a bodily event on which everything depends (AC III; FC SD IX), and as the basis of justification: if Christ is not raised, we are still in our sins (Rom 4:25). St. 3 teaches the intermediate state in biblical terms: the flesh rests in hope and 'slumbers' for a season until the trumpet (Ps 16:9; 1 Thess 4), the language of the Lutheran burial rite. St. 2's 'My passing soul deliver' is a prayer at the hour of death, the Seventh Petition as the Small Catechism explains it. 'My love, the Crucified' echoes Ignatius and the Song of Songs: devotional, but tied to the cross.

Liturgical Use (Study Notes)

Easter Day and the Easter season; Easter Vigil; funerals and committals in Eastertide; a choir carol with congregational refrain.

Historical Notes

Written by George Ratcliffe Woodward for Carols for Easter and Ascension-tide (1894) to carry the Dutch tune; Charles Wood's harmonisation followed in The Cowley Carol Book (1902). LSB's text is close to Woodward's original.

About the Tune

VREUCHTEN, from Joachim Oudaen's David's Psalmen (Amsterdam, 1685), originally a love song 'De liefde voortgebracht'.

Scripture References

1 Cor 15:12-20 1 Cor 15:51-57 Rom 4:25 Ps 16:9-10 Acts 2:24-27 John 11:25-26 1 Thess 4:13-16 Song 2:16 Josh 3:14-17 Rev 14:13

Stanza by Stanza

Themes

Resurrection joy Victory over death Christian hope Easter celebration Redemption through Christ

Look Further

• Search Hymnary.org for "This Joyful Eastertide" ↗
• Search IMSLP for public-domain scores of "VRUECHTEN" ↗