The collection was compiled starting in the 1640s by Gustaf Düben, and by subsequent members of the family, who held positions at the Swedish Court Chapel.

It was ultimately catalogued in the 1880s by librarian Anders Lagerberg,[1] and, upon being noticed by a visiting German musician from Lübeck, gained the attention of musicologists due to it containing copies of previously unknown works by Buxtehude,[2] and later due to its overall significance in assessing 17th-century music history.

[1] The core, generally considered to be the work of Gustaf Düben the elder, is divided into five volumes of Mottetti e concerti written in tablature and dating from about the 1660s.

[1] Besides the volumes previously mentioned, the collection includes various loose sheets (sometimes, copies of works found in the main volumes), as well as autograph manuscripts obtained directly through the compiler's personal contacts with leading composers of the era, and a few prints, notably of music by Heinrich Schütz.

Düben's two sons, who succeeded him at the beginning of the 18th-century, added works from their time, mostly French opera music influenced by Lully, both printed and manuscript.