The Music of the Ainur

Rúmil proceeded to tell Eriol about the creation of the world. For those familiar with The Silmarillion account the earliest version in The Book of Lost Tales is remarkably similar. Names of the Valar, how many Valar, and the roles of the Valar were sill being shaped. And yet key characters: Manwë, Ulmo, Aulë, and Melko(r) were present. By the way, in the early writings Melkor was typically written as Melko.

Perhaps the changes that stand out the most between what was published and the early writing (around 1920 with the final work some 30 years later as Christopher Tolkien notes) are as follows: the world was created in the song as opposed to being a vision that the Valar had to build and there was an idea that the Valar had children. This was later abandoned though some of the characters remained (for example Eönwë becomes Manwë's herald. One small difference that caught my eye was as follows: "Then the harpists, and the lutists, the flautists and pipers, the organs, and the countless choirs of the Ainur began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar into great music..." (The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I, p. 53). In the version published in The Silmarillion the musical instruments did not survive. I think that ads nice texture to the music of the Ainur.