Born: September 12, 1886, Kansas City, Missouri.
Died: January 1, 1981, Barrington, Rhode Island.
Buried: Swedish Emanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, North Grosvenor Dale, Connecticut.
Of Swedish ancestry, Ryden worked as a journalist and for the Kansas City Railway, then entered Augustana College in 1907, graduating in 1910.
He worked for a year as an editor for the Moline, Illinois, Dispatch, then attended Augustana Theological Seminary.
Upon ordination, he pastored at Grace Lutheran Church, Jamestown, New York; and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Beginning in 1934, he edited The Lutheran Companion for 37 years. In addition, he served as president of the American Lutheran Conference (1938–42), and helped produce various Lutheran hymnals.