At sports events, national anthems play an essential role for they convey a sense of community and are a means to express identification with one's home country. Most anthems date from the 18th to 20th centuries and are often an integral part of the political and cultural development of a nation, e.g. on their way to independence or democracy.

This edition contains 50 national anthems from all over the world, with the original melodies and chord symbols, complete texts in the original language as well as transliteration for the more exotic languages. The volume contains interesting information on the respective countries as well as on the composers and text writers of the anthems. This edition encourages people to get to know the multitude of different national anthems and to sing along with the text. To complement the melody edition, a piano edition has also been published, with easily playable, pleasing piano accompaniments (Schott ED 9903).