On his return from Europe, Root began composing and publishing sentimental popular songs, a number of which achieved fame as sheet-music, including those with Fanny Crosby: "The Hazel Dell", "Rosalie the Prairie Flower", "There's Music in the Air" and others, which were, according to Root's "New York Times" obituary, known throughout the country in the antebellum period. Root chose to employ the pseudonym Wurzel (German for Root) to capitalize on the popularity of German composers during the 1850s, and to keep his identity as a serious composer against his composition of minstrel and popular songs.