The first hymnal of what is today known as the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod was the Evang.-Lutherische Gesangbuch (Evangelical-Lutheran Singingbook) of 1870 (ELG). The Gesangbuch shared a large percentage of its contents with the LCMS’ Kirchen-Gesangbuch of 1847. But an immediate republication of the volume just two years later demonstrated the Wisconsin Synod's ability to stand on its own doctrinal conviction after a somewhat heated controversy at the its 1870 Synodical Convention. This included resolutions like the following: 

RESOLVED, since several hymns have unfortunately remained which contain untruths or can be interpreted incorrectly, or which contradict doctrines of the Lutheran Church, a committee should remove these and insert others in their places [. . . and] that there be printed for the already printed hymnals leaflets which contain the newly accepted hymns together with an adequate explanation.

The Synod in Convention believed that the inclusion of some of this content would give the impression that it supported erroneous teaching. For this reason, a redaction of the hymnal was published in 1872 to replace a handful of hymns—out of 695 total—with different chorales from the Evangelical-Lutheran tradition. Consider the example of stanza six of the omitted hymn, Ewige Liebe, mein Gemüte, waget einen kühnen Blick.

6. Wo du nun vorher gesehen, daß ein mensch auf dieser Erd deinem Geist nicht widerstehen, noch sein Werk verhindern werd, sondern ahne Heuchelschein werd im Glauben feste sein: diesen hast du auserwählet und den Deinen zugezählet.

 6. Now, since you have seen beforehand that a person on this earth will not resist your spirit, nor hinder his work, but will be firm in faith without any appearance of hypocrisy, you have chosen this person and counted him among your own. 

While the rest of the hymn does not appear offensive at a cursory analysis, this stanza appears to confess the tenets of the intuitu fidei ideology that caused controversy in the Synodical Conference in the 19th Century and led to the departure of the Ohio Synod. The early Wisconsin Synod was so concerned with maintaining conservative doctrinal integrity in the confession of their hymns and liturgy that it went through the trouble of republishing an entire hymnal because of the faintest appearance of agreement with what was considered error. This stalwart stance is emblamatic of the tome as a whole.