Luther was a hymnodist

Martin Luther considered music, particularly German hymns, as an essential factor of faith development. He blended folk music with high art and wrote for people of all social classes, ages, and genders.

Luther composed liturgical songs (Advent, Christmas, Purification, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity), catechism hymns (Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, Creed, baptism, confession, Eucharist), paraphrases of psalms, and other songs. Whenever Luther deviated from pre-existing materials (bible, Latin, and German hymns), he vastly extended, changed, and personally interpreted them.

In collaboration with Johann Walter, Luther worked on the tunes, occasionally revising older tunes. In 1524, hymns were published in the Achtliederbuch, Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg), and the Erfurt Enchiridion (Erfurt), among other places.