To review, last week we said: Hymn tunes have their own names. That string of numbers, 87 87 D, stands for the number of syllables is each line of text; the D means the pattern is doubled in each verse.

Some meters are abbreviated in hymnals: SM is Short Meter (66 86), with 6 syllables in the first two lines, 8 in the next, and 6 in the fourth. CM is Common Meter (86 86), with 8 syllables in the first line and 6 in the second, and so forth. LM is Long Meter (88 88), with 8 syllables in each line. Sometimes these are doubled, or have a refrain or have alleluias; those are listed separately. All the rest are just listed in metrical indexes in numerical order.

What you need now is a good hymnal (or several) with an alphabetical index of hymn tune names, and a metrical index of hymn tunes. Say you’ve found a good text, such as “Take Up Your Cross.” Look above or below the hymn and find the tune name (and syllabic meter, often in the same place). A tune often used for this particular hymn is ERHALT UNS HERR; look up that name in the alphabetical index, which will give you the meter—in this case, LM, or Long Meter. Now, in the metrical index, look up LM. There will be a whole list of tune names, including DUKE STREET, OLD HUNDREDTH, TALLIS CANON, to name just a few. For each tune there will be one or more page numbers; more popular tunes have several page numbers, but some have only one.

Stay tuned: there’s one more step.