"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker hymn composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett Jr. (1797–1882) at a Shaker community in Alfred, Maine, featuring the iconic text "'Tis the gift to be simple." The melody gained worldwide fame through Aaron Copland's use of it in "Appalachian Spring" (1944) and was further popularized by the Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss recording style referenced in this arrangement.