“Der er et yndigt land” was first performed for a large gathering of Danes in 1844, and became popular quickly with the Danish people. It was adopted later that year by the Danish government as a national anthem, but not the sole national anthem. This anthem is on equal status with “Kong Christian”, which is both the national and royal anthem, however “Derer et yndigt land” is heard more often in the country. The original work has 12 verses, but only the first, third, fifth, and last verses are used as the national anthem.
When the Danish anthem is usually performed or sung, the first verse is played in its entirety, then it is followed by the last four lines of the last verse. (This is true whether the lyrics are sung or not.)
Special thanks to: Josh Lim and Hans Henrik Larsen for some of this information.