Johann Walter also impacted Lutheran music in his compositions, as he published in 1524 what would become the root of all Lutheran choral music, a collection of hymns arranged for choir called Geystlich Gesangk-Buchleyn. Luther wrote the preface for Walter’s collection, which contained many of Luther’s recently written hymns, and this choir hymnal became the basis of the congregational hymnal published in Wittenberg the following year. Pieces included in Geystlich Gesangk-Buchleyn include arrangements of “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands,” “To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray,” and “Savior of the Nations, Come.”

Luther’s theology greatly influenced Walter’s understanding of music, and he wrote a poem expounding upon all the places in Scripture where music is mentioned, called “In Praise of the Noble Art of Music.” After relating in the poem numerous examples of music’s honored use in the Church’s past, he states that “All those who quarrel with this art / Are lame of brain and hard of heart. / But those who love to hear God’s Word / Love also to have music heard.”