This carol that we all know and love is based on a 16^th century German folk song that, at its origin, had nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas. And though there are two or three names credited with certain sets of lyrics (one about an ill-fated love affair, in which the purity and steadfastness of the fir tree were compared to a woman who was neither!), credit for the version we know today is generally given to Ernst Anschütz, a German poet, teacher, composer, and organist who made his revisions in 1824..Not until the mid-1800s, when fir trees first began to be used as Christmas trees in Germany, did the song become associated with that holiday. The above version is a blend of the verses we know best.