An old standard work giving the origin of hymns to the middle of the 19th century.
Marks, Harvey B., The Rise and Growth of English Hymnody. Revell, 1937.
An excellent account.
American Hymnody
Foote, Henry Wilder, Three Centuries of American Hymnody. Harvard University Press, 1940.
An authoritative and readable account of American hymnody from the publication of the Bay Psalm Book, 1640, to the present day.
Ninde, Edward S., The Story of the American Hymn. Abingdon Press, 1921.
Popular stories of hymns. Supplements the more scholarly work by Foote.
Stories of Hymns and Hymn Writers
Butterworth, Hezekiah, The Story of the Hymns. American Tract Society.