How does the meaning of "I'd ask of you" differ with "I'd ask you"?

[Justine A.]

How does the meaning "I'd ask of you" differ with "I'd ask you"? I  just thought about it when I listened to the  the lyrics of the song One More Gift of Bukas Palad: "If there's one more gift, I'd ask of you, Lord it would be peace here on earth"?

[Joe Carillo]

To say "I'd ask you" is to ask someone a question, as in "If I were an immigration officer, I'd ask you what your nationality is owing to your strange, out-of-this-world English diction." In contrast--a usage that illustrates the power of a preposition to make give a phrase an idiomatic or figurative sense--to say "I'd ask of you" is to request, entreat, ask, or beg someone to do you a favor, as in your sample statement (with the comma after "gift" dropped), "If there's one more gift I'd ask of you, Lord, it would be peace here on earth." Another statement using the "ask of you" phrase is this beautiful supplicating song, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "All I Ask of You" in the stage play The Phantom of the Opera, which I simply couldn't resist quoting in full here:      

All I Ask of You

No more talk of darkness,
Forget these wide-eyed fears;
I'm here, nothing can harm you,
My words will warm and calm you.
Let me be your freedom,
Let daylight dry your tears;
I'm here, with you, beside you,
To guard you and to guide you.

Say you love me every waking moment,
Turn my head with talk of summertime.
Say you need me with you now and always;
Promise me that all you say is true,
That's all I ask of you.

Let me be your shelter,
Let me be your light;
You're safe, no one will find you,
Your fears are far behind you.

All I want is freedom,
A world with no more night;
And you, always beside me,
To hold me and to hide me.

Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime;
Let me lead you from your solitude.
Say you need me with you, here beside you,
Anywhere…