i must say that i'm not overly impressed with most hymn tunes. However, I'm not impressed with them because they are uninteresting and obvious. Personally I find most hymns boring to sing because they never tax me.

Possibly this is a difference between America and England, but since we use the same hymnal in the Episcopal church and C of E, I doubt it. It must just come down to what your expectations are. Most hymns in my mind are very similar, which means what they are going to do next is very obvious to me. Possibly I just think like an 1800s composer ;-)