I heard a story about how this song came to be. I have no idea if it is true. Anyway, a bus load of farm workers were on their way somewhere when their bus broke down. To kill the time while waiting for the bus to be fixed, they sat on the hillside and began to sing. The beauty of the valley stretching out before them was such that it inspired the song. Perhaps this has something to do with why the United Farm Workers adopted it.

When I have sung this song with Tres Dias groups, we often sing verses 1, 2, and 5 from my post above.

dw