Raise Your Voices to the Lord
61

Text and music: Evan Stephens (1854–1930; LDS)
Tune name: TOVEY

“Shout thanksgiving!” This exhortation occurs in both verses of this hymn text, written to close a meeting. This hymn expresses the hope that the fervent singing will prolong the spirit and conviction of the meeting throughout the coming week, “Until here we meet again / To renew the glad refrain.”

The musical setting is in the style of a chorale, a simple hymn form dating back to early Protestantism. The half- note rhythms with which it was printed in the 1950 hymnal are more typical of chorale hymns, but the quarter- note rhythms of the 1985 hymnal are somewhat easier to read and are less likely to invite too slow a tempo.

This hymn first appeared in Latter- day Saint Hymns (1927). The tune name, TOVEY, honors Daniel Tovey. When the 12- year- old Evan Stephens arrived in Willard, Utah, Brother Tovey, director of the local choir, kindly invited him to sing with the group and taught him the rudiments of music. Stephens later remarked, “He, more than any one else, revealed to me the glory of the great classics” (Deseret News, 1 November 1930).