Bliss Carman’s poem, Christmas Song, begins with a « weary waiting world » in « chill despair » and ends with « new ecstasy to know’, a beautifully written possibility to see how the hierarchy of modes, from saddest to happiest, could be applied within the context of one piece and reflect Carman’s sentiment. The melody played on harpsichord is heard four times: in Aeolian, Dorian, Mixolydian, and Ionian modes, in that order. The choral parts reflect the modal use of the harpsichord in the same order, but less rigidly and end in the major, « a little child is born ».