Noel Nouvelet comes from the late 15th or early 16th century. Sheet-music publisher J.W. Pepper describes it as a traditional French carol from that period. It has no credited author. The hymn reference Hymnary lists the English text as “Author: Unknown” and the source as a traditional French carol from France. Its roots lie in a folk tradition rather than with a named songwriter.
That is why this page sits under the heading “Christmas Carols” and not under one performer. The song belongs to a repertoire that many choirs, organists and congregations have shared.
A title that means “news”
The title is usually rendered as “Christmas comes anew.” Both “noel” and “nouvelet” share a root meaning news or newness. One hymn commentary traces the word further back to the Latin natalis, meaning birthday, which explains why “noel” came to be tied to the birth of Jesus.
The carol was not originally only for Christmas. Several hymn guides say it was written in the 15th century as a New Year’s carol, and it was later absorbed into the Christmas season.
The carol in its own time
This was a song of the people. Congregational singing was not part of Catholic liturgy when the carol appeared, according to one hymn study. That did not make the carols simple. The same study notes they did not lack theology or symbolic sophistication.
The French carol tells the nativity story in a plain, narrative way. It moves from the announcement to the shepherds, then to the manger and the arrival of the kings. The singer seems to stand inside the scene, not merely watch it. A hymn commentary ties this to the French tradition of the crèche and to Renaissance ideas about the human role in sacred events.
The French original is longer than the English version. A hymn guide says the French text may have been patterned on the twelve days of Christmas and has stanzas that were never translated. Without them, the English text is a basic nativity narrative.
The sound of the tune
The melody is modal. Hymn sources list it in E minor or in the Dorian mode. One commentator calls it exuberant and full of vitality despite the minor key. Hymnary catalogues the tune as an old French melody in the public domain.
French organists adopted the tune. Noels were part of French organ literature from the 18th century. It was common on Christmas Eve for organists to play variations on familiar carols as people arrived for midnight Mass.
English versions and a second life
The text was translated into English sometime in the 17th or 18th century, according to a hymn commentary. It is best known in English as “Sing We Now of Christmas.” Hymnals also give it the first line “O sing we now of Christmas.” Some modern hymnals label the same material a Provençal carol, which shows how traditional sources differ on its exact origin.
The tune also has a second identity. It carries the 1928 Easter hymn “Now the Green Blade Rises” by John Macleod Campbell Crum. Hymnary lists that text with the tune name NOËL NOUVELET, credits the tune arrangement to Martin Shaw, and calls it a later form of a 15th-century French noel. A New Year’s carol, a Christmas carol and an Easter hymn can therefore share one melody.
The carol is still in print today. Modern choral and band arrangements are on sale, and recent hymnals such as Magnify the Lord include it as a French carol of the 15th century.