Walton's Anon in Love (1959) comprises nine settings of anonymous sixteenth- and seventeenth century lyrics on the subject of "man in love." While linked by this central theme, the songs are otherwise contrasting in style and treatment. Walton's choice of a guitar accompaniment is typical of his penchant for exploring new sonorities; at the time, certainly, the vocal/guitar combination was rarely used by composers. From a technical standpoint, the songs are challenging for singer and guitarist alike.

The first three settings have an Elizabethan flavor, recalling the word painting and decorous lyrics of many sixteenth century English madrigals. In the first, "Fain would I change that note," a lute air from Hume's Musicall Humors (1605), the voice ranges over an octave and a half, with bright harmonics on the guitar. In the second, "Stay sweet love" from John Farmer's first set of madrigals (1599), the guitar part is marked by graceful repeated sixteenth note chords and descending arpeggios. In the third song, "Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting," from Wilby's first book of madrigals (1598), the range of the voice grows in wider and wider leaps to eventually encompass a twelfth, complemented by a pleasingly arpeggiated guitar accompaniment.

The remaining three songs strike an earthier note. "My love in her attire" and "I gave her cakes and ale" reflect the saucy character of many English popular songs. The latter is marked by lively commentary from the guitar, with brilliant chords, ornamentation, and swift arpeggios. The final song, "To couple is a custom," has a diatonic, four-square Medieval character, yet is the most genuinely Romantic of the whole cycle. In the last verse the words "Come fiddler scrape the crowd" refer not to the fiddle but the Welsh crwth, a bowed lyre that preceded the more aristocratic viol.

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