Even if Schumann falls back on the hymnbook when choosing the text of his 'Adventlied' (Advent Song), the composition probably was politically motivated and, still under the impressions of the revolutionary years of 1848/49, owed to the longing for peace. The 'Adventlied' (Advent Song), like the 'Neujahrslied' (New Year's Song), is 'a strange mixed genre between sociable, covertly political and religious chant'.

Eulenburg