ASH GROVE first appeared in print in the collection Bardic Museum compiled by Edward Jones and published in London in 1802. It has been suggested that the tune is similar to a melody found in the Beggar's Opera (1728), an opera that includes many arrangements of well-known folk tunes. ASH GROVE is, however, a harp tune rather than a folk song, and its associations in Wales are entirely secular.

Katherine K. Davis related that she found this tune in the Book of National Songs, a pamphlet published by Novello. She wrote the harmonization and a descant for the tune and published them with her text in 1939 (see above). Since that time the hymn has been a favorite of many church choirs and congregations.

ASH GROVE is a classic rounded bar form (AABA). Sing in harmony and add the descant at stanza 2, perhaps also with instruments like flutes or recorders.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook