1. Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici,
Devotes gens, crions a Dieu merci!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet, Noel!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet,
Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici!

2. L'ange disait! pasteurs partez d'ici!
En Bethleem trouverez l'angelet.
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet, Noel!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet,
Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici!

3. En Bethleem, etant tous reunis,
Trouverent l'enfant, Joseph, Marie aussi.
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet, Noel!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet,
Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici!

4. Bientot, les Rois, par l'etoile eclaircis,
A Bethleem vinrent un matinee.
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet, Noel!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet,
Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici!

5. L'un partait l'or; l'autre l'encens bem;
L'etable alors au Paradis semblait.
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet, Noel!
Chantons Noel pour le Roi nouvelet,
Noel nouvelet, Noel chantons ici!

Notes

Keyte and Parrott, The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) contains 13 French verses, with a corresponding 13 English verses; see Carol 188. They note that nouvelet comes from the same root as noël, and that both denote "news" or "newness." This was a New Year's carol, as opposed to a Christmas carol, with versions dating to the early 1500s. Numerous versions have been found, largely inconsistent.  They took their version from the 1721 Grande Bible des noëls, taunt vieux que nouveaus. Even so, they made alterations to several of the French verses, according to their notes, which contain additional material to which the reader is referred.

English translations appeared as early as the 17th and 18th centuries; translations are still being made as recently as 1998.

The tune itself, in a Dorian mode, echoes in its first five notes the Marian hymn Ave, Maris Stella Lucens Miseris.

Translations include:

• Christmas Comes Anew (Ehret and Evans, The International Book of Carols (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Walton Music Corp., 1963); there may also be public domain versions under this name, however, I have not yet located one.
• Noel Nouvelet, Sing We A New Noel (Translator Unknown)
• Noël nouvelet, sing we this new Noël (Keyte and Parrott, The New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).
• Noel! A New Noel!
• Noel, Noel, Noel (Translation by K. W. Simpson)
• Nowell, Sing Nowell (Translation by John Rutter, copyright 1969; see Carols for Choirs 2: 50 Christmas Carols for Christmas and Advent (London: Oxford University Press, 1970)
• Sing We Now
• Sing We Now Of Christmas: Version 1 and Version 2. Traditional English, Translator Unknown, circa 17th or 18th Century, plus numerous contemporary versions under the same name, including those by Laurence Stith (1965), Randy Vader (1994), and Ken Bible (1998).

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The tune has also been used for other hymns, including:

• Now The Green Blade Rises (A 1928 Easter hymn by English priest John Macleod Campbell Crum (1872-1958), a beautiful hymn that likens Christ to the growing grain.)
• Welcome, Happy Morning! (Words by Venantius Fortunatus, c. 530-609, Translated by John Ellerton, 1826-1893.)
• Godhead Here In Hiding (A translation of Adoro Te Devote, A meditation on the blessed sacrament; Words by Thomas Aquinas; Translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.)
• Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee (A translation of Adoro Te Devote, A meditation on the blessed sacrament; Words by Thomas Aquinas; Translation: Unknown)
• With All The Powers My Poor Soul Hath (A translation of Adoro Te Devote, A meditation on the blessed sacrament; Words by Thomas Aquinas; Translation by Richard Crashaw, adapted by John Austin.)

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As is always the case, the rendering of a particular text is dependent upon the religious beliefs of a particular denomination; expect variations.

This tune was also the basis of Marcel Dupre's (1886-1971) organ composition, Variations sur un vieux noël ("Variations on a French Noel").

Sources:

• Percy Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Martin Shaw, eds., The Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1928).

• Walter Ehret and George K. Evans, eds., The International Book of Carols (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Walton Music Corp., 1963).

• Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott, eds., The New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

• Erik Routley, The English Carol (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959).

• Erik Routley, The University Carol Book (Brighton: H. Freeman & Co., 1961).

• William E. Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1995)
• The Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1991)
• The Book of Hymns (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1964)
• The Hymnal 1982 (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1982)
• The Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978