Like the Opus 42 Choral Songs, Brahms did not compose this collection as a set to be performed together. The individual numbers, however, do share a similarity in their texts, which are all of legendary or folk origin and their settings, which are purely strophic (each verse of the poem is sung to the same music).

1. Rosmarin (Rosemary). A girl enters a garden to pick roses for her wedding wreath, but finds only rosemary for her lover's funeral. The strophic setting is enriched by sophisticated counterpoint and complex rhythms.

2. Von alten Liebesliedern (Old Love Songs). This is a courting song full of humor, including a refrain imitating the "little horse's" gallop.

3. Waldesnacht (Forest Night) is a tranquil, yet harmonically complex chorus. The texture seems homophonic, but is actually rich in polyphonic imitation.

4. Dein Herzlein mild (Your Tender Heart). One of the simpler settings in this collection shows Brahms in a playful mood, particularly in the final stanza.

5. All meine Herzgedanken (All my Thoughts) is another simple strophic setting enriched by a remote modulation in the middle of each stanza.

6. Es geht ein Wehen (A Wind Blows), is an eerie setting of the "wind's bride" wailing for her lost lover.

7. Vergangen ist mir Glück und Heil (Happiness and Well being are Lost to Me) is a modal setting of an old German Chorale that demonstrates Brahms' interest in archaic techniques. This also exists in a solo version (Opus 48, Number 6).

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