Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in the United States and Canada, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner; and in the United Kingdom and Ireland to "Forest Green", a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 English Hymnal.

O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie: Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The Everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, And gathered all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wondering love.

Where children pure and happy Pray to the blessed Child: Where Misery cries out to Thee, Son of the undefiled; Where Charity stands watching, And Faith holds wide the door, The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, And Christmas comes once more.

Descend to us, we pray, Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today; We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!

But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony.

Adapted into a hymn tune harmonised by Vaughan Williams, it was first published in the English Hymnal of 1906 (transcribed below).

Two versions also exist by Henry Walford Davies, called "Wengen", or "Christmas Carol".

This setting includes a recitative from the Gospel of Luke at the beginning, and cuts verses 2 and 4 of the original 5-verse carol.

The song has been included in many of the Christmas albums recorded by numerous singers in the modern era.