This haunting folk tune is classified as Type I, which are hymns sung to settings of traditional ballad tunes. This classification was devised by Phillips Barry (1880–1937), who was a pioneering Early American folk hymn specialist and folk tune collector. The melody of O Tell Me Where the Dove Has Flown is in the Dorian mode. It is repeated five times in this edition, making the design of the entire work strophic in structure. The text authorship of the verses is unknown, rendering them as a traditional text. This setting includes five of the surviving six ABAB rhymed verses.