
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of beautiful, poignant songs written by amateurs. They may have the most wonderful marriage of words and melody and show that they were written under inspiration, but they still may be short, sweet, and rather simple.
Take hymns as an example. Some older hymns enjoyed a heyday when they were sung regularly and then fell out of favor. But then, a couple of generations later, they are arranged by a talented composer, sung by a famous choir, and suddenly they get a whole new life. Think about "Come Thou Fount" that used to be in the LDS Hymnal, then was removed from the 1985 hymnal because it had fallen out of favor, and now it has been reinstated in the LDS hymnody.
Very likely, people who listened to the Tabernacle Choir sing it, or who got to sing it in large University choirs or community Master Chorales had a spiritual experience with it. Honestly, who couldn't?
I noticed that the new version just released by the LDS Church has a few of the Mack Wilberg chord substitutions and changes in harmony. I guess the powers that be decided that people really only want to sing the Wilberg arrangement. So maybe these changes are somewhat of an appeasement.
Composers use changes in harmony, and sometimes melody, and use chord substitutions all the time. They have many tools in their tool belts. They may MODULATE through different keys. They may add ORCHESTRATION or different CHORAL VOICINGS to add variety. They may spend many measures in melodic and harmonic DEVELOPMENT. But one tool that is maybe more sophisticated than the others is when they change up the RHYTHM.
Changing the RHYTHM could be giving the song a different BEAT such as using drums for a Latin flavor or other dance-like rhythms in the melody or accompaniment. Then, they could also change up the TIME SIGNATURES. For example, a normal 4/4 hymn could really take on a different flavor by chopping off an eight note in the measures making it 7/8. Just that counting adjustment gives a straight forward hymn formerly in 4 counts a lifting flavor.
Here's one of my arrangements that I thought would be interesting to change up the RHYTHM. In my mind, it gives even more power to an already powerful text about FAMILIES.
"From Homes of Saints Glad Songs Arise" SATB