Martin Luther regarded music as an essential part of the mass.

He pushed for hymns to be sung

in vernacular, the common language of the people, as opposed to latin. This allowed the
congregation to join in the singing, which not only gave them a role in the mass but also allowed
them to sing the hymns outside of church. These hymns were called ​chorales​. Sometimes these
chorales were adaptations of existing German religious songs, or of well-known secular songs
that were then fitted with a religious text.

The examples here are either adaptations of an existing gregorian chant, or are entirely new
melodies.

The first example, ​Veni redemptor gentium​, is a gregorian chant in its original form
The second example is Martin Luther’s adaptation of it.
All of Martin Luther’s changes to the original chant make it easier for a congregation to sing and
engage with the music.

He translates the original text from latin to German, and makes each line 7 syllables instead of
8.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (rest)
Ve- ni re- demp- tor gen- ti- um Nun komm der Hei-den Hei-land
Os- ten- de par- tum Vir- gin- is Der jung- frau -en kind er- kannt
etc. etc.

This allows for the insertion of a rest at the end of each line, making it more rhythmic and easier
to sing, as opposed to gregorian chant, which is continuous and less rhythmic.

Luther also notates specific rhythms, as opposed to gregorian chant. Finally, each line has one
highest note, and ends with the same note it begins. All of these changes facilitate the ease of
singing, both technically and as a congregation. (Bach would later write two chorale cantatas
based on this chorale).

Luther’s most famous chorale is​ Ein’ feste Burg. ​It is in the Ionian mode, (major), which Luther
associates with faith in God. The melody often returns to repeated high notes, not only making
the melody memorable but also emphasizing the text of the hymn, which is about the strength of
God, and having a sturdy faith in Him. Luther carefully sets the music to the syllabic stress of the
text.

It eventually becomes common for Lutheran composers to write four-part chorales, harmonizing
the basic hymns, to be sung by a church choir, often alternating with the congregation singing
the hymn in unison in its original form. Johann Walter was the major early practitioner of
four-part chorales.
This example is a four-part setting of Luther’s ​Ein’ feste Burg. ​The original melody is in the
tenor, surrounded by free counterpoint in the other voices. Often, the other voices continue their
lines when the tenor’s phrases end, giving the whole composition forward motion (instead of
stopping at the same spots the original Luther hymn stops). In m. 8-9, there is a bVII-1 cadence,
which is a typical 16th century ending cadence.