The that starts all this is a good example of a specious argument form that I have named "Opposite Extreme." Here is a simple example of Opposite Extreme:

Bill:   I sure wish it would quit raining. We'll have a flood.
Bob: What do you want, a drought?

In the story, the unknown author uses two extreme examples, a particularly brainless praise song and a particularly overwrought Victorian hymn. Both songs are silly.

The author's point, really, is "I'm smarter than the people who wrote these." But he isn't really smarter, he's just using Opposite Extreme.