The words to “For the Beauty of the Earth” were penned by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917).  Born at Spa Villa, Bath, England, Pierpoint grad­u­at­ed from Queen’s Coll­ege, Cam­bridge Un­i­ver­si­ty, in 1857, and lat­er taught class­ics at
Som­er­set­shire Coll­ege. He lat­er lived at Bab­bi­combe, De­von­shire, and else­where, and oc­ca­sion­al­ly taught.

The music is by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872). Kocher stu­died pi­a­no and com­po­si­tion in St. Pe­ters­burg, Russ­ia, in the ear­ly 1800’s. He went to Rome, Ita­ly, for fur­ther stu­dy in 1819, and then re­turned to Ger­ma­ny in 1820. In 1821, he found­ed the School of Sac­red Mu­sic in Stutt­gart. He al­so served as or­gan­ist in the Stifts­kirche there.

Conrad Kocher

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Refrain
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Refrain

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Refrain

Refrain

For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.

Refrain

For the martyrs’ crown of light,
For Thy prophets’ eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors’ might,
For the lips of infancy.

Refrain

For Thy virgins’ robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

Refrain

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.