Bert wrote: ...hymns are ... sponsored by an authority. . .the church.

Actually, a great number, (perhaps most) of the hymns are written by "non-professionals" or ordinary folk. Don't think you could say they're "sponsored by the church," it's just that if they strike the right chord (no pun intended) the church embraces them. Not sure this is true in the "high church" tradition, but it is certainly true of those hymns in the Baptist Hymnal.