The meter of its chorus is in the form of a
Limerick.
It can safely be characterized as a highly sentimental tune. Although the verses (seldom heard nowadays) provide further explanation, it is clear that the writer is singing about a lost love:
In the shade of the old apple tree,
Where the love in your eyes I could see,
Where the voice that I heard,
Like the song of a bird,
Seemed to whisper sweet music to me,
I could hear the dull buzz of the bee
In the blossoms as you said to me,
"With a heart that is true,
"I'll be waiting for you,
In the shade of the old apple tree."
Other uses
In the movie The Wizard of Oz, in the scene involving the talking apple trees who become angry with Dorothy for picking apples off them, the strains of this song are heard in the instrumental underscore.
Similarly, in
Warner Bros. cartoons, for example, the tune was invoked in underscore sometimes, when trees were appearing on the screen. The song is most heavily featured in the Merrie Melodies short The Night Watchman (1938), where a full chorus from the song is performed by three rats.
In the movie Blondie in Society (1941), a scene involves Blondie (Penny Singleton) singing the song to their Great Dane showdog.
In the TV series adaptation of Sumo Do, Sumo Don't on Disney+ (2022), a rendition of this tune is sung over the closing credits, and various instrumental versions are played during the episodes.
Parody
A song like this, dripping with sentiment even by early-1900s standards, lent itself to parodies.
Billy Murray recorded one. The verse describes him passing by the house of Maggie Jones, a maiden "homelier than me", who asks him to fetch some apples on the promise of giving him one of the pies she plans to bake. That verse continues into the chorus: