Several trees can be confused with that of Jesse.

 The tree of the genealogy of the Virgin with St Anne sitting in a high chair, with her hand on the shoulder of the Virgin holding the Infant Jesus. From St Anne grows a tree with, on its branches, the Virgin’s sisters and their boys: St James the Major and St James the Minor, St John the Evangelist… The so-called theme of the Holy Kinship comes from the Golden Legend..

See the Holy Family

The Tree of Life is that of the earthly Paradise (but this is not the tree of knowledge, that of the Fall). Adam and Eve are standing at the foot of the Tree of Life whose apples are the round faces of their descendants, at the top of which reigns swaddled Christ, in his form as a child. In the four corners of the scene, four medallions represent the four rivers of Paradise that water the earth and gives life to it.

See the Fall

 The Tree of Vices and Virtues

It is composed of a trunk divided into two branches (the Pythagorean Y), at the top of which Christ is enthroned. The latter actively works for the good: armed with an axe, he strives to cut off the high branches of evil. They are on the left and evoke the 7 capital sins facing the 7 Christian virtues.

The Tree of Jesse; c. 1240 miniature, tempera, ink and gold on parchment; manuscript Ludwig VIII 2, Fol. 7 V; Würzburg, Germany

The Book of Isaiah, chapter 11

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him (Isaiah 11:1-2)

The Gospel according to Matthew begins with “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” which is followed at verse 6 by “And Jesse begot David the king” and ends at verse 16 by “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”..

The Gospel according to Luke also gives, in Chapter 3, a genealogy of Christ, but the other way,. It begins with “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph” (3:23) and further down it reads “…who was the son of David, who was the son of Jesse…” (3:31-32) and ends with “…who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God” (3:38)..

These genealogies do not agree but, in both cases, David’s father is quite present. 

Comment
 

Isaiah’s “messianic” text is taken up by the New Testament to assert that Jesus if the fulfilment of the promise made to the Israelites. Let us not forget that Messiah in Hebrew corresponds to Christ in Greek.

The TREE OF JESSE  

Two more original trees: on the left, Jesse is standing with the tree growing out of his back; on the right, the tree is to the glory of Mary. It makes a full turn and the last characters are Anne and Joachim, the Virgin’s parents who, according to the tradition, kiss under a gate of Jerusalem to conceive her.

The Tree of Jesse manifests the wait for the Messiah. 

 This religious wait has a great importance in our civilisation. Whether it is the wait for the coming of the Messiah for Jews or that for his return for Christians, it always signifies the end of History, God’s coming, Peace and felicity for all men… This wait explains the foundation in Europe then in the United States, of many sects, that is to say of religious movements that want to build a messianic society to bring forward the date of the return of Christ.

In its profane version, the messianic wait takes the form of a wait for peace and happiness and, therefore, of the belief in progress.
The announcement of a radious future explains the success of political movements and ideologies, of which Marxism was the main example in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The genealogical tree

Genealogies have played a great role since the Middle-Ages, at first in aristocratic lineages, then for a few years in all families. Generations and sibships are often represented by the branches of a tree whose common ancestor is the root.

The Genealogy of Francis I and Queen Claude; 1517; miniature from the Consecration,
crowning and entry of the Queen and Duchess, Madame Claude de France; manuscript Français 5750 f° 45;
Manuscript Department; Bibiothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

 BNF