Gregorian chant is a special form of music in which melody is at the service of the word. In a Musical Lectio Divina, the Gregorian melodies themselves are studied insofar as they amplify the sacred texts.

While public awareness for the Gregorian propers has been growing in recent years, the imposition of ashes chants for Ash Wednesday (Immutemur, Iuxta Vestibulum, and Emendemus in melius) are still relatively unknown. They are, nevertheless, particularly poignant to the beginning of the new Lenten season.

Boethius wrote, "For nothing is more proper to humanity than to be relaxed by sweet modes and to be made tense by the opposite." Many have had the experience of perfectly sight reading a chant, yet still arriving at the end and wondering whether they actually sang it correctly. It is because they have not yet developed a modal sense for the chant.