This group of six songs was intended as a tribute for the poet's 70th birthday, but Keller died before they could be finished and presented to him. While Wolf wrote with only slightly less than his usual speed, he had perhaps counted too much on that speed and had begun writing fairly late. Some of the haste with which he wrote them shows in occasional awkwardnesses in the joining of text and music, particularly in the first, "Tretet ein." Otherwise, the collection shows his typical inventiveness, especially at the almost alarming climax of the "Singt mein Schatz," effectively depicting the fiery sword she compares the power of love to, the strangely mysterious "Du milchjunger Knabe," as if it is a far more powerful spell than listening to a snail-shell that is being whispered to the young man, or the deeply dramatic portrait in Der Kohlerweib ist trunken. The sixth song (which was actually the second one to be written—Wolf numbered them by their appearance in Keller's collection) is considered the masterpiece, and is one of the most frequently recorded. Throughout the song, the mood-painting is almost hypnotically vivid, as the old woman looks into the tranquil night. It is full of gentle, restrained touches, such as the tender pause before "ihr sel'ger Sohn," or the chords that suggest the saint repairing shoes.

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