<Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Ernst Anschütz, based on a 16th - century Silesian folk song by Melchior Franck </Td> </Tr> <P> "O Tannenbaum" (German: (oː ˈtanənbaʊm); "O fir tree", English: "O Christmas Tree") is a German Christmas song . Based on a traditional folk song, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree by the early 20th century and sung as a Christmas carol . </P> <P> The modern lyrics were written in 1824, by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer Ernst Anschütz . A Tannenbaum is a fir tree . The lyrics do not actually refer to Christmas, or describe a decorated Christmas tree . Instead, they refer to the fir's evergreen qualities as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness . </P> <P> Anschütz based his text on a 16th - century Silesian folk song by Melchior Franck, "Ach Tannenbaum". Joachim August Zarnack (1777--1827) in 1819 wrote a tragic love song inspired by this folk song, taking the evergreen, "faithful" fir tree as contrasting with a faithless lover . The folk song first became associated with Christmas with Anschütz, who added two verses of his own to the first, traditional verse . The custom of the Christmas tree developed in the course of the 19th century, and the song came to be seen as a Christmas carol . Anschütz's version still had treu (true, faithful) as the adjective describing the fir's leaves (needles), harking back to the contrast to the faithless maiden of the folk song . This was changed to grün (green) at some point in the 20th century, after the song had come to be associated with Christmas . </P>

When was the song oh christmas tree written