What are hymns? Well, that question requires a two part answer. The most obvious answer is hymns are sung as they are a way to worship God. They fulfill the biblical proclamation, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." The second part of the answer is not quite so obvious. Hymns are also a form of prayer. Through song, congregations collectively offer up prayers of praise, thanksgiving, hope, and much more. Many times hymn writers have written out of need or pain, offering up beautiful, heartfelt prayers to God in moments of great distress or sorrow. Hymns have also been written by early Christian bishops when their churches were facing danger from outside forces.
So, where do hymns come from. For this I turn to the Judson Press Bible study guide called Judson Bible Journeys For Adults, Fall 2010, The Inescapable God. On pages 52-53 you'll find the history of congregational singing if you want to know more. In the 4th century AD, Ambrose of Milan brought singing in worship as a concept from the Eastern churches to Europe. At this time, chanting the Psalms was already part of worship, so this idea was not entirely startling. But, if you're thinking everybody was singing throughout the Middle Ages, you'd be mistaken (if you haven't, brilliant!). Only the clergy sang, singing what we'd call Gregorian chants and they called Gregorian plainsong. Congregants were only allowed to chant brief responses from time to time. Martin Luther, famous for the Reformation, was also busy translating the Bible into German and writing hymns in German as well. He was the first writer to pen hymns in the people's language. German hymn writing took off like wildfire. King Henry VII in England paved the way for hymn writers in his country by throwing out the Latin hymns of the Catholic Church and replacing them with ... nothing. In came John Calvin, a Swiss reformer, and John Knox, from Scotland, to fill the void with "metrical psalms." Then Isaac Watts took things a step further, writing the first English hymns.
Now, this being a Baptist blog, we can't leave the Baptists out. Benjamin Keach was the first to introduce singing hymns in English in worship. Being Baptist, Keach place it to a vote whether a hymn should be sung and they decided one hymn should be sung after the sermon, leaving those who didn't like the idea a chance to leave after hearing God's word for them that day. Now, that's a very Baptist approach in introducing hymn singing.
For an excellent example of hymn singing, follow this link: http://extoncommunitybaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2011/01/mahalia-jackson-i-come-to-garden-alone.html
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