The German Lied was Schoenberg's primary medium of expression early in his career. Before his first publication, he had composed numerous songs and his Opp. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 14 and 15 are all collections of songs. Even his String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10, incorporates the voice into the third and fourth movements. It is in his works for voice and piano that Schoenberg gradually moved away from tonal composition.

In the Two Songs, Op. 14, composed in December, 1907, and February, 1908, we find the force of the tonic reduced to a greater degree than in Schoenberg's earlier works. Schoenberg delays the resolution of dissonance to such an extent that the expectation of resolution nearly disappears, weakening the force of traditional harmonic structure and its attendant periodic constructions. Shortly after completing "In diesen Wintertagen," the second of the Op. 14 songs, Schoenberg composed a number of songs to be included in Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Op. 15. In these songs, setting texts by Stephan George (1864-1933), we hear the "emancipation of the dissonance," with no expected resolutions and no tonal center. Schoenberg considered the Two Songs, Op. 14, published in 1920, to be his first step toward the abandonment of tonality.

Schoenberg was attracted to verse that depicts or describes psychological states; the texts of the Two Songs, Op. 14, are good examples. The first song of the Op. 14 set, "Ich darf nicht dankend on dir niedersinken" (I may not sink down before you in thanks), sets a text by Stephan George. The second, "In diesen Wintertagen" (In these Winter Days) is by Karl Henckell (1864-1929). George's poem, in the first person, considers repressed sorrow. This repression seems to be an obstacle for the narrator, who explains, "If my solace wishes to nestle up against you sorrow / It [your sorrow] will pull away in rejection." The narrator asks if the person will ever acknowledge this pain, or continue to walk "By the ice-cold, deeply sleeping river?" In both this and the second song of the set we find harmonies that move by step and chords built on the intervals of the fourth and seventh. Schoenberg sets George's two verses with contrasting music, although the setting of the second verse is a variation of the first at a greater dynamic. Despite his near relinquishment of tonality Schoenberg did not abandon unity. For instance, the shape of the first line of text is derived from a repeated figure in the piano introduction that appears throughout the song.

"In diesen Wintertagen" derives its harmonic palette from vertical sonorities that are often the result of moving lines. However, what sounds like resolving appoggiaturas don't resolve, but move to a chord that is equally "dissonant." Schoenberg's setting is through-composed, although the first and third verses bear similarities. Augmented chords characterize an introduction that features an angular motive in the right hand of the piano part that returns in different registers later in the song. The quiet, plodding first verse contrasts with the more animated second verse, which is separated from the preceding and ensuing verses by piano interludes similar to the introduction. The first two lines of the third verse return to the atmosphere of the first while the second line, "Wir greifen kaum hinein," is set to music that appears earlier in the song as an accompanimental element. The last three lines become more animated, as the narrator and his lover's life on a distant island, devoting "day and night to blissful love."

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