Professor Jeremy Dibble of Durham University has noted that "While shepherds watched" was "the only Christmas hymn to be approved by the Church of England in the 18th century and this allowed it to be disseminated across the country with the Book of Common Prayer.

[7][8] David Weyman's adaptation of "Christmas", taken from an aria in the 1728 opera Siroe by George Frideric Handel was arranged by Lowell Mason in 1821, and it is now this version which is most commonly used in the United States.

[12] American composer Daniel Read published his tune "Sherburne" in 1785, a popular setting that appeared over seventy times in print before 1810 and is still commonly sung by Sacred Harp singers.

[13] It was originally set to the words 'Grace 'tis a charming sound' written by Philip Doddridge but is now better known in the UK as the tune of On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.

It has been set to numerous other tunes, most commonly "Martyrdom", written by Hugh Wilson in 1800 but with an arrangement by Ralph E. Hudson from around 1885, and "Shackelford" by Frederick Henry Cheeswright from 1889.

"Sweet Chiming Bells" is an alternative folk version, repurposing the tune of a different carol, "O'er earthly plains".

The Hymnal 1982 published in the United States also contained a number of other modernisations, including dropping "Hallelujah" as the final line.

[17] In the UK, generations of schoolboys[18] have traditionally sung parodies of Christmas songs like We Three Kings or Jingle Bells before the yearly Nativity Play.

While Shepherds washed their socks by night All seated round the tub A bar of Sunlight soap fell down And they began to scrub