salutatory

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An opening or welcoming statement or address, especially one delivered at graduation exercises.
• adjective Of, relating to, or expressing a salutation.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Of the nature of or pertaining to salutation: as, a salutatory address.
• noun In the early church, an apartment belonging to a church, or a part of the diaconicum or sacristy, in which the clergy received the greetings of the people.
• noun The oration, usually in Latin, delivered by the student who ranks second in his class, with which the exercises of a college commencement begin; loosely, any speech of salutation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective Containing or expressing salutations; speaking a welcome; greeting; -- applied especially to the oration which introduces the exercises of the Commencements, or similar public exhibitions, in American colleges.
• noun obsolete A place for saluting or greeting; a vestibule; a porch.
• noun (American Colleges) The salutatory oration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Characteristic of a salutation or greeting.
• noun A greeting or an address or speech of greeting.
• noun obsolete A place for saluting or greeting; a vestibule; a porch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an opening or welcoming statement (especially one delivered at graduation exercises)