My advice: Don't try. Write markup for overriding the 'text property.
And if you don't feel up to doing that sort of markup, you could get most of the way with an additional context: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \version "2.20.0" coharmonies = \chordmode { d1:m s d:dim s fis} harmonies = \chordmode { c1 c:m c:7 cis c:m7 } \score { << \new ChordNames { \coharmonies } \new ChordNames { \harmonies } >> \layout{ } \midi { } } %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Cheers, Robin