Many rural garden cemeteries not only have gravestones, monuments, and tombs that are works of art, but also have sculptures that are freestanding and not commemorating someone deceased. In the Lexington Cemetery at Lexington, Kentucky, sculptures add to the park-like feel.

One example is a sculpture of a woman playing a lyre. The lyre is an u-shaped stringed instrument that was found in ancient Greece. The lyre was traditionally seen as a symbol of Apollo, the Greek god of music.

In Christian symbolism it can represent harmony and Heavenly accord and song in praise of the Lord.  In funerary art, however, the lyre can also represent the end of life.