1 Corinthians 14:7 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

And even things without life. — The pipe and harp were the best-known instruments, and the principle just laid down of the inutility of sounds unless they be distinctive is illustrated by reference to them. Whether it was a harp or a pipe which was being played you could not know unless each gives a distinct sound of its own. The point here is not, as the English seems to suggest, that there must be a difference in tune, so as know what is being piped or harped — that illustration comes in in the next verse — but that each instrument has its own peculiar sound.