I Fell In Love With Hope

Getting "I Fell In Love With Hope" Right: What Actually Works

I've spent years dealing with this Hillsong Worship track. It came out in 2018 on the album There Is More, and it became one of those songs that ended up in every worship playlist after that. The original is by Kari Jobe, Candice Falzon, and Steven Furtick, and Hillsong's version rearranged it in a way that made it feel different enough to confuse people looking for sheet music or chord charts. Here's the thing nobody tells you: the key of the Hillsong version isn't the same as Kari Jobe's original. If you're trying to transpose or play along, that'll catch you off guard immediately. Hillsong dropped theirs into the key of G major, while the original sits in A major. Simple enough if you know what you're looking for, but I've seen countless people waste an hour because they pulled the wrong chart.

I Fell In Love With Hope Chords and Structure

The chord progression is straightforward once you actually listen to the Hillsong arrangement closely. Verse runs D – A – Bm – G in their key, which translates to G – D – Em – C if you're starting from their setup. The pre-chorus builds through Em – C – G – D, and then the chorus opens up with the familiar progression that most people already know by ear. I learned this the hard way during a live session where I had pulled a YouTube tutorial that was actually transposed to the original key. The band locked in for about three measures before the keyboard player noticed we were completely out. We stopped, reoriented, and I just played from the official chordsheet I grabbed from the Hillsong Worship YouTube channel. Saved us from looking incompetent in front of the whole team. The bridge is where things get interesting harmonically. Hillsong layers in some modal interchange that shifts the feel without changing the actual key. You'll see it as an F major chord sneaking into what should be a purely diatonic progression. It works because it creates that lift right before the final chorus hits, and it's not obvious unless you're actually reading the music rather than just following a lead sheet that simplifies everything.

Where to Find Reliable Resources

The official Hillsong Worship YouTube channel posts lyrics with synced chords, though they don't always mark every variation between verses and choruses. For clean printed charts, MusicNotes has an accurate version if you pay the small fee, and the Worship Leader website carries it too. If you're on a budget, the chord sheets posted by churches on Google Drive forums are usually solid, but verify them against the actual recording before committing to them for a service. I use a combination of the YouTube audio as my reference and a basic PDF chart I keep bookmarked. When I need to transpose on the fly for a vocalist who can't hit the range, I run it through a digital interface like a Roland GO:Keys or even just a guitar capo, and I map the new key against the original chart in real time. It takes about ten seconds once you've done it a dozen times. The tempo sits around 72 beats per minute in common time, and the dynamics are pretty controlled compared to other Hillsong tracks. It builds gently rather than exploding into a wall of sound, which means the arrangement leaves more room for vocal clarity. That's intentional on their part, and it's worth noting if you're adapting this for a smaller congregation where the vocal team might struggle under a heavier instrumental bed.

One thing I wish more people checked: the instrumental bridge in the Hillsong version runs for a full eight bars before re-entry, and some chord charts cut it to four because they assume the listener will fill in the gap. If you're leading this live and your chart is shortened, your band will lose their place exactly when the song needs to breathe. I learned that one during a midweek service where the organist and I nearly collided trying to figure out where the next section started. Always keep the full bar count. There isn't an official downloadable sheet music file that Hillsong releases for free, which is frustrating if you need something printable for your team binder. The closest legal option is purchasing individual song licenses through CCLI SongSelect, which gives you the lyrics and chords for church use. It costs an annual subscription, but if you're leading music regularly it pays for itself within a few months compared to hunting down unofficial sources that might have errors. The song has been covered by a lot of independent artists, and some of those recordings vary the key and tempo enough that cross-referencing them will only confuse things. Stick to the Hillsong Worship studio recording or the live version from the There Is More album if you want consistency. Everything else is someone else's interpretation, and that's fine for personal use but not reliable if you're preparing to lead it.

I still use this song occasionally when I need something that feels hopeful without being overly dramatic. It's not my first pick for a high-energy set, but for reflection or communion moments it does what it's supposed to do. The harmony is clean, the melody is memorable, and the structure doesn't require a large band to pull off effectively. Just make sure your chart matches the Hillsong arrangement and not the Kari Jobe original, and you'll save yourself a lot of frustration.