Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven Henry F. Lyte, 1834
3 verses, sung to Praise My Soul (8.7.8.7.8.7), public domain, free to print and project.
The words
Verse 1. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To his feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore his praises sing;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the everlasting King.
Verse 2. Praise him for his grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise him still the same as ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glorious in his faithfulness.
Verse 3. Father-like, he tends and spares us,
Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise Jehovah, God of grace.
Words copied from New Baptist Hymnal (1926). They were published in 1834, so they are in the public domain in the United States, and your church may print them, show them and sing them without a license.
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The story behind Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
Henry Francis Lyte published Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven in 1834 in The Spirit of the Psalms, while he was curate of Lower Brixham in Devon, England. The book gathers paraphrases of the psalms. Lyte did not turn each psalm into verse line by line. He condensed the main ideas into a few stanzas that a congregation could sing. Psalm 103 appears four times in the book, and this version became the most used. It has five six-line stanzas, and later editions mark the fourth as optional.
Lyte died in 1847. His son-in-law J. R. Hogg edited later editions and changed one line of stanza 2. Hymns Ancient and Modern changed the refrain to Alleluia in 1861 to suit its tune and altered other lines too.
The tune most churches sing is LAUDA ANIMA by John Goss. His manuscript is dated July 15, 1868. It was published in 1869 in Robert Brown-Borthwick's Supplemental Hymn and Tune Book, in D major. The Musical Times praised it in June 1869. Sources disagree on when hymnals adopted it. Some give 1875, and the Hymnology Archive says that date is wrong. It replaced an earlier tune in the 1904 Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Mark Andrews wrote a different tune with the same name in 1930, and some hymnals print that one. Hymnary.org also lists REGENT SQUARE among the tunes used. It counts about 594 hymnals for the text and ties it to Psalm 103 and Ephesians 1:3 to 14.
Henry F. Lyte
1793-06-01 to 1847-11-20
Henry Francis Lyte was born at Ednam, near Kelso, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he won the English prize poem three times. He took holy orders in 1815. The illness and death of a fellow clergyman in 1818 changed his life and his preaching. He served at Marazion in Cornwall and at Lymington before becoming perpetual curate of Lower Brixham, Devon, in 1823, a post he held until he died. His books include Poems chiefly Religious in 1833 and The Spirit of the Psalms in 1834. Hymnary.org lists 261 texts under his name. He died at Nice, France, weeks after writing Abide with Me.
John Goss
1800 to 1880
John Goss was born in Fareham, Hampshire, England, in 1800. He sang as a chorister at the Chapel Royal and later in the opera chorus at Covent Garden. He taught as a professor at the Royal Academy of Music from 1827 to 1874 and served as organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, from 1838 to 1872. Hymnary.org says he influenced the reform of British cathedral music in both posts. He published Parochial Psalmody in 1826 and Chants, Ancient and Modern in 1841. He wrote LAUDA ANIMA in 1868 for Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven. He died in London in 1880.
- Hymnary.org, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven , read 2026-10-16
- Hymnology Archive, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven , read 2026-10-16
- Hymnary.org, LAUDA ANIMA (Goss) , read 2026-10-16
- Hymnary.org, John Goss , read 2026-10-16
Scripture in Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
The Bible passages behind the words.
- Psalm 103:1
- Psalm 103:8
- Psalm 103:13
- Ephesians 1:3-14
- Revelation 5:9-14
Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven videos
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Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Tune: Lauda Anima - 4vv) [with lyrics for congregations] Chet Valley Hymns and Songs, Congregation
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Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Grace Community Church) Martijn de Groot, Congregation
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Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven KingsCollegeChoir, Choir
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St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, Praise my soul the king of heaven Ikje86, Choir
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Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven (tune: Lauda Anima) - Organ Instrumental, Introduction and Lyrics The Hymn Channel, Instrumental
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Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Live) | Keith & Kristyn Getty, Sing! KeithandKristyn Getty and Sing!, Modern arrangement
Videos play from YouTube, and nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. A video may sing different verses from the ones printed on this page.
Downloads, printing and slides
Sheet music files
- Sheet music PDF 97 KB. Words and all four parts, ready to print.
- Lead sheet PDF 86 KB. Melody, words and chord symbols for piano or guitar.
- MusicXML score XML 62 KB. Opens in MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius and Dorico to change the key or print parts.
- MIDI, all parts MIDI 2 KB. Plays the four-part harmony in any MIDI player or notation app.
- MIDI, melody only MIDI 1 KB. The tune alone, for learning it.
Practice tracks for each voice part, as MIDI: Alto , Tenor , Bass .
Chords and keys
Hymnals print it in D or E♭.
Questions people ask
Who wrote Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven?
Henry Francis Lyte wrote the words and published them in 1834 in The Spirit of the Psalms. John Goss wrote the tune LAUDA ANIMA in 1868.
Is Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven based on a psalm?
Yes. Lyte based it on Psalm 103. He condensed the psalm's main ideas into stanzas and did not follow it line by line.
What tune does Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven use?
Most hymnals print LAUDA ANIMA by John Goss, which was published in 1869. Some books use a different LAUDA ANIMA tune by Mark Andrews from 1930.
Is Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven in the public domain?
The words are public domain in the United States. Lyte published them in 1834, and Goss's tune dates to 1868.
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