Our Prayer to Thee

In the April 2003 general conference, Elder Russell M. Nelson gave a talk called 'Sweet Power of Prayer.' In it he told of visiting an elderly woman in a nursing facility who wept because one of her sons had not visited in years. 'If such a mother yearns to hear from her sons,' he reflected, 'it is easy to see why a loving Father in Heaven wants to hear from His children.'

Then he did something unusual. 'I have felt impressed to conclude this message on prayer with a prayer — presented as a hymn,' he said, citing the Lord's promise that 'the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me.' As the Tabernacle Choir sang the words he had written, the heart surgeon turned apostle stood at the pulpit with head bowed and arms folded. The talk did not end with an amen; it ended with a song that was one.

For the tune, arranger Mack Wilberg reached for 'Myfanwy,' by Joseph Parry (1841–1903) — perhaps the most cherished melody in Wales. Parry's story is itself hymn-worthy: he left school at nine to work in the coal pits of Merthyr Tydfil, moved to the ironworks at twelve, emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania, and clawed his way into music — eventually becoming the first professor of music at a Welsh university and the first Welshman to earn a doctorate of music at Cambridge.

Parry sold the rights to 'Myfanwy,' his tender 1875 love song, for twelve pounds. A century and a half later it carries a prophet's prayer.

As Church president from 2018, President Nelson announced and championed the very hymnbook project that would eventually canonize his text. On September 18, 2025, 'Our Prayer to Thee' was released as hymn #1048 — nine days after his 101st birthday.

Nine days after that, President Nelson passed away. The hymn's arrival in the book he had set in motion became one of the final public events of his life — a prayer of gratitude, offered at the beginning of his apostleship's final chapter and now left for the whole Church to keep praying.