While wandern is defined as "hiking" today, it referred to the required journeyman years of craftsmen when written, in this case of a miller.

The beginning of the poetry is based on the play Rose, die schöne Müllerin,[2] which premiered in the house of Friedrich August von Staegemann in Berlin in the fall of 1816.

Berger requested more texts related to the topic, which Müller wrote during a study trip to Italy, completed in Dessau in 1820.

[3] In the context of the cycle, the beginning reflects, beyond the joy of Wandern, the strict scheme of required journeyman years as part of the training of craftsmen, who often longed for rest.

[4] When the Wandervogel youth movement was founded in 1905, the song became part of many of its songbooks but not of the standard Der Zupfgeigenhansl [de].