[2] It is remarkable for the high level of its language and vocabulary and is considered one of the most important works of late medieval German literature.

The work also represents a concept of marriage as a communion of love, a notion not generally accepted at the time.

The opposite position, that the work should be viewed in the tradition of medieval literature, was argued by Arthur Hübner.

There is also the question of whether the work is a mere exercise in courtly style or represents the processing of the author's personal experiences.

The latter is supported by the fact that the author's first wife had died in 1400, that the protagonist's plough is described as a feather (i.e. he is a writer), and that the initial letters of the last chapter's prayer spell JOHANNES.