“ ‘Hail to the Lord’s anointed’ is a five-verse setting of Psalm 72 by Scottish hymn-writer, poet and editor James Montgomery, who grew up in the north of England in a family who worshipped in the Moravian Brethren tradition,” says The Rev’d Dr David Cole
“This hymn is a very useful addition to our repertoire of congregational hymnody, of course, and also has other more nuanced possibilities. For example, the first two lines of each verse might be sung by a soloist or small group, with the congregation joining in the repeated final line each time. Or it might be used as a quiet background during intercessions, with the final line used as the people’s repeated spoken response to the prayers,” says The Rev’d Canon Dr David Cole