Sweden’s anthem was written in 1844. The author of the lyrics chose a Swedish folk tune from the province of Västmanland to set his words to to create the anthem and entitled it “Sång till Norden” (Song of the North). The song was created at a time when a “pan-Scandinavian” movement was strong, which is why it is a “Song to the North” instead of just to Sweden. This has led to other verses being written that are more patriotic to Sweden, but these additional verses have never gained popularity and have never been considered part of the national anthem.

In the late 19th century the anthem started to be considered as Sweden’s “national anthem”, differentiating it from the royal anthem that was being used as both a royal and national anthem. The anthem has never been officially legislated as Sweden’s national anthem, one attempt in the 1930s by a member of parliament brought forth claims by the opposition of wanting state controlled patriotism. (However, a bill in 1960 which attempted to make a different song the national anthem was defeated, which indirectly gave official support to “Sång till Norden”.)

The song was first sung at a party held by the University of Lund in 1844 to celebrate the accession of the new king, Oscar I. The anthem was used as a national and royal anthem until 1893, when it became solely the royal anthem. It replaced the former anthem “Bevare Gud vår kung” (God Save the King) by Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz, in use since February 12, 1805 which was sung to the tune of not only the British royal and national anthem (also called “God Save the King” when ruled by a male monarch), but also the current tune of the royal anthem of its neighbour, Norway. During the reign of Gustav III (1771-1792) “Gustafs skål” with music and lyrics by Carl Micael Bellman was a favourite of the king, and was informally his royal anthem.

Current practice only has the first and fifth verses sung, and only the first verse is to be sung if the monarch is present. The other verses of the song are very rarely heard.