The tune is more widely known in the English speaking world as that for "Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All" - Tune: for the chorale, (87.87.887) a.k.a. for the hymn, SWEET SACRAMENT (88.88.888 or L.M. with 888 refrain). The 7 syllable lines are obtained by combining the penultimate and antepenultimate syllables of the corresponding 8 syllable line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6zvsRxpMo

@CHGiffen ... Yes that's it. And I never heard it before. And it's more in keeping with the original text, which is not what I originally posted, because I didn't know about it.

@Everyone... That's the thing about posting on MusicaSacra. I always have to do my homework FIRST! If I posted on Twitter or Facebook a few people would "like" or "favorite," or whatever and it would all go away.

It looks like:

The song was orinally written as a testament to the sacrifice of Christ, and the indwelling of the Eucharist.

It looks like there were several versions later where the first verse was kept intact, but different second and following verses were written and added.

Here is another example.

It seems the version I posted in my original post was the most common in use, primarily in services for baptism, confirmation, or rites of affirmation, etc.

Then the modern Church in Germany played with the first verse, such as: "ich will zum Herrn gehören" ("I will listen to God") instead of "Ich will die Kirche hören" ("I will hear the Church"), etc. I'm guessing to make the Church more inclusive, as a reaction (right or wrong) to modernism. You can hear the first verse in its new revised version on gloria.tv here.

As I understand it, in Germany you don't have OCP, or GIA, etc. You have THE Gotteslob. I lived there a couple years. I have an old one (1990s?) before a lot of the revisions. I might have to make a trip to Amazon.de and get a more modern Gotteslob.

So, even in Germany, the straight-forward declaration this hymn I described in my original post has been buffered. I don't know if that's good or bad, but my gut reaction is it isn't good.

@Chris Garton-Zavesky, the German I posted from the thread was saying: "They" only chose to modernize the first verse to be more palatable. (snarky) Did they forget there's more than one verse? And that begs the question: "Do you believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church?"
The thread was specifically about the church in Germany changing old songs with new lyrics, and the people posting on the thread didn't like it.
Which sounded to me very much like a MusicaSacra thread might be if a hymn like: "The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord," was changed by an archdiocese to read: "Our only true foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord," or something similar, and that's what would be in all hymnals in the archdiocese.
And that wouldn't be the only hymn, it would be a bunch of them. MusicaSacra forum would light up like a protestant neighbor's Christmas tree in the Advent season.

My "very loose" translation in my original post is pretty accurate, and that's what I was wondering about, if there's something similar in English. Though if Germany is moving away from that type of language in hymns, I'd think the US would be as well.

Here's my own shot at a poetic translation of the first stanza:

That's a pretty good translation. It looks like the controversy now over the first verse of this hymn is in the newer Gotteslob, maybe 2003 (just when I left Germany) it's changed to something like: "My ears to God are reaching."

Though this is a hymn I wasn't familiar with. I don't think I attended any baptisms or confirmations while I was there. Often I would go home after service and look hymns that were sung up in the Gotteslob I purchased from Brennholz, and try to figure them out. But not always.

But still I wonder why it's been changed. The message seems really appropriate for our modern, godless world. Though I DO want to be inclusive. "One baptism."
But it seems too often today... Baptized, Confirmed (maybe), then gone from the Church.

When I was nosing around Wesley's A Charge To Keep I Have seemed to be the only hymn I found in English with a similar message.

In the archdiocese of Paderborn this hymn still has the old text "ich will die Kirche hören" (I will listen to the Church), but with additional stanzas (eg "O Seligkeit getauft zu sein", roughly Oh bliss to be baptised). There were slightly different texts in use before the introduction of the Gotteslob in 1974; before this common hymnal every diocese had its own hymnal, although a certain unification started after WW2, when a set of IIRC 49 hymns was chosen that had to be found in every diocesan hymnal with the same tune and text. For this reason every diocese (or in some cases a group of dioceses) has its own appendix with hymns from its own tradition, sometimes contemporary hymns, sometimes also additional chant pieces (Credo III is in the main part, Credo I is in several diocesan appendices).

There are some other songbooks, eg the Schwerter Liederbuch which contains contemporary worship music (although much of it is older than me) and is primarily used for Masses with children etc., but for a normal Sunday Mass you are most likely to deal with the Gotteslob.