The hymn tune CWM RHONDDA is to me one of the most stirring of all Christian hymns. Welsh organist John Hughes composed it in 1907 for "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah," a text translated from its original Welsh. With the creation of this majestic music and pairing it with the vivid imagery of those words, Hughes made a monumental addition to our hymnody.
God of Grace and God of Glory is another text empowered through its union with CWM RHONNDA. The music seems perfect for these words. Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote them in the summer of 1930 for the opening service of the Riverside Church in Manhattan where he was pastor. However, the choir processed that morning singing this hymn of Christian action to the stately tune REGENT SQUARE, best known as the music for "Angels from the Realms of Glory."
Fosdick's text was first paired with CWM RHONDDA in 1935 for The Methodist Hymnal. The author disapproved strongly to using the different tune. When asked why, the great Harry Emerson Fosdick, declining to state his reasons, replied simply, "My views are well known—you Methodists have always been a bunch of wise guys."
—David A. Seitz