The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918 at King’s College in Cambridge, England. It was planned by ERic Milner-White, who had just been appointed Dean of King’s College.
A revision of the Order of Service was made in 1919, involving rearrangement of the lessons, and from that date the service has always begun with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City. In almost every year some carols have been changed and some new ones introduced by successive organists. The backbone of the service, the lessons, has remained vurtually unchanged.
After its introduction, other churches adapted the service for their own use. Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, the pattern and strength of the service, as Dean Milner-White pointed out, derive from the lessons and not the music. “The main theme is the development of the loving purpose of God . . . seen through the windows and words of the Bible.”