Adeste, Coelitum chori

"Adeste, Coelitum chori" is an 18th-century Latin Easter hymn written by Nicholas le Tourneaux. In the revised Paris Breviary of 1736, the text was appointed for the Ferial Office at Matins, including Sundays, throughout the Eastertide season from Low Sunday until the Feast of the Ascension, where it is marked with the author's initials, "N. T." Following its inclusion in the Paris Breviary, the hymn was adopted for similar Eastertide liturgical use in the Lyons Breviary as well as other modern French breviaries. The original Paris Breviary text was later reprinted in the nineteenth century by Cardinal John Henry Newman in his Hymni Ecclesiae (1838 and 1865) and by John Chandler in his Hymns of the Primitive Church (1837, No. 68).

Several translations of "Adeste, Coelitum chori" entered common use in nineteenth-century collections:

Isaac Williams published the first translation in common use, "Angels, come on joyous pinion," in his Hymns Translated from the Parisian Breviary (1839) in six six-line stanzas. It was included with minor alterations by Dr. Rorison in his Hymns and Anthems (1851), and later altered to "Come, once more with songs descending" in the second edition of the Anglican Hymn Book (1871).

Robert Campbell produced the most widely adopted English rendering, "Heavenly choirs with anthems sweet," written in 1849 and published in the St. Andrew's Hymnal (1850) in six four-line stanzas. It appeared with alterations and the omission of the third stanza in the Cooke and Denton Hymnal (1853), a version repeated by Benjamin Hall Kennedy in 1863 with the addition of an "Alleluia" refrain. The third stanza was restored in the Enlarged Appendix to the Hymnal Noted (1864). In Orby Shipley's Annus Sanctus (1884), the original text was printed directly from Campbell's manuscripts along with additional stanzas by J. C. Earle.

William John Blew translated the hymn as "Angels to our Jubilee," initially printed on a broadsheet for church use before its inclusion in his Church Hymn and Tune Book (1852) in eight four-line stanzas. This text was subsequently republished in The People's Hymnal (1867) and Rice's Selections from Blew (1870).

Bishop James Russell Woodford contributed "Come, ye heavenly Choirs descending" to his Hymns (1852) in six four-line stanzas, incorporating a fifth stanza borrowed from Isaac Williams's rendering. Woodford's translation saw widespread use, appearing in the Parish Hymn Book (1863 and 1875) and Chope's Hymnal (1864).

Additional historical translations not in common use include John Chandler's "Come, thou blest angelic throng" (Hymns of the Primitive Church, 1837) and John David Chambers's "Descend from Heaven, ye Angel choirs" (Lauda Syon, 1857).