Hymn Story: I Would be True
I Would Be True is a hymn written by Howard A. Walter in 1906. He is credited with writing the first three verses while living in Japan. He sent the lyrics to his mother and she forwarded them on to Harper’s Magazine, who published them.


The last three verses are attributed to S. Ralph Harlow around 1918. According to his daughter, Ruth, “My father was a friend of Howard Walter—and after Mr. Walter’s death, he had a dream in which Mr. Walter told him that he had three more verses he would like added to his hymn I Would Be True.”
Joseph Y. Peek composed the music to this hymn in 1911.