A formal, high-minded speech can be described with a formal, high-minded word — the word panegyric, which is a very elaborate tribute to someone. You could consider most eulogies as panegyrics.
It stands to reason that the original use of the word panegyris, from which panegyric derives, was to describe a public gathering in honor of a Greek god. The Latin, L. panegyricus, altered slightly to mean "public eulogy," which around the 16th Century shifted to the French panégyrique, which meant "laudation." In any case, the word today stands for high praise given in a speech or tribute as highfalutin as the word itself sounds.
