Is the singing of hymns in any way even remotely related to praise?
Well I should hope it is. The Psalms are a kind of hymn, aren't they? Israel, in their singing of hymns, were praising God. Yes, of course hymns are a form of praise. At the Last Supper, didn't our Lord sing a hymn just before they went out? Of course, we can sing hymns mechanically with our hearts and our minds far away, but we're talking about people doing things seriously, so of course hymns are a form of giving praise.