I Had a Little Nut Tree

Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 8 bars and a pickup. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.

The chords in this piece

Your left hand plays three chords in this piece. The shaded keys are the notes of each chord, and the numbers under them are the left-hand fingers (1 is the thumb). Two held chords to a bar, mostly C and F taking turns, with G7 to lead each half home. All the common piano chords, with diagrams →

C C

C – E – G · Left hand 5 3 1

C, E and G: the home chord. Little finger on C, middle finger on E, thumb on G.

F F (C position)

C – F – A · Left hand 5 2 1

C, F and A. The same three notes as F major, rearranged so the little finger stays on C; the thumb stretches up one key to A.

G7 G7 (C position)

B – D – F · Left hand 5 3 2

B, D and F: G7 without its bottom G. Little finger down to B, finger 3 on D, finger 2 on F.

About this arrangement

The rhyme about the silver nutmeg and the golden pear, with the tune Alfred Moffat printed in 1912. It starts on a pickup, “I”, on middle C. The right hand works from C position and moves mostly in pairs of quavers (eighth notes), with the little finger stretching to A and then the C above for “No-thing would it” and “vis-it me”, and the thumb dropping to the B below middle C for “gold-en”. Bar 8 has a new rhythm: “lit-tle” is a quick semiquaver (sixteenth note) followed by a dotted quaver, short-long. The left hand plays a chord on beats 1 and 3: C, F and G7.

Practice tip: Clap bar 8 first, saying “LIT-tle nut tree” with a snap on “lit”. In bars 2 and 6, let the hand open out to reach the high C, then come straight back.

The words

I had a little nut tree, Nothing would it bear But a silver nutmeg And a golden pear. The King of Spain's daughter Came to visit me, And all for the sake Of my little nut tree.

A short history

I Had a Little Nut Tree is number 3749 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The earliest known printing is in Newest Christmas Box, published in London in 1797. James Orchard Halliwell, collecting nursery rhymes in the 1840s, suggested the King of Spain’s daughter might be Joanna of Castile, who visited the court of Henry VII in 1506, but he gave no evidence.

The tune was printed by Walter Crane in The Baby’s Opera (1877), and Alfred Moffat used the same melody, in a different key, in Little Songs of Long Ago (1912). Older versions of the words end with the singer skipping over water and dancing over sea, so fast that all the birds in the air could not catch them.

Quick facts

Tune: Traditional (English, printed 1797; tune as printed by Alfred Moffat, 1912)
Key: C major
Time signature: 4/4
Length: 8 bars and a pickup
Tempo: Lightly, crotchet = 92
Difficulty: Level 4: Up to the C above (piece 132 of 201)
Type: Nursery rhyme
Hands: Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
Chords: C, F and G7 (diagrams above)
Copyright: Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers

What key is I Had a Little Nut Tree in?

C major, in 4/4 time. There are no sharps or flats in the key signature.

How long is it?

C major, 4/4, 8 bars and a pickup. The tempo marking is Lightly, crotchet = 92.

Is I Had a Little Nut Tree out of copyright?

Yes. The tune is traditional (English, printed 1797; tune as printed by Alfred Moffat, 1912). Our piano arrangement is free for personal and classroom use.

What is the hardest part?

Clap bar 8 first, saying “LIT-tle nut tree” with a snap on “lit”. In bars 2 and 6, let the hand open out to reach the high C, then come straight back.

Can I print it?

Yes. Press Print above to put this piece on its own page, or choose Save as PDF as the printer for a file. It prints on A4 paper; if yours is US Letter, choose US Letter in the box beside Print. The notes are the same size as a printed music book.

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