Mozart's few Lieder are representative of eighteenth-century song and its tendency toward sentimental melancholy. References to tears, graves and loneliness occur often in the poems, such as An die Hoffnung, K. 390, Abendempfindung an Laura, K. 523, and An die Einsamkeit, K. 391. Some are satirical, such as Die Verschweigung, K. 518, and one, Das Veilchen, K. 476, even brings to mind the eighteenth-century Ballad in its through-composed format.

Mozart did not seem to search hard and long for poems to set, which is probably why most of his song texts are mediocre. According to Mozart's "List of all my Works," "Die kleine Spinnerin" (The Little Spinster), K. 531, was completed on December 11, 1787, about a month after he and Constanze had returned from Prague, where they attended the triumphant premiere of Don Giovanni in the Prague National Theater on October 29, 1787. The song was published late in 1787.

In the poem, Fritz asks the spinster why she is spinning her wheel as fast as she is and suggests she quit working and join him and others in their games. The girl refuses, however, noting that after the "game" the boy will probably be on his way. Furthermore, what he does is not productive, while what she does with her time produces thread.

In a lively 2/4 meter and in C major, "Die kleine Spinnerin" is one of Mozart's simplest songs. The predominant harmonies are tonic (C major) and dominant (G major) and most of the voice part is replicated in the piano accompaniment. The song is strophic, and the move to the dominant at the middle of the verses bears no relation to the text. Repeated leaps in the melody, particularly at "[Herr] Fritz, das lass ich bleiben" (Fritz, let me be), mimic the sound children make when they mock each other.

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