The son of a merchant and mayor of his native city, he was educated at the classical schools of Helmstedt and Braunschweig, and afterwards at the universities of Göttingen and Bonn.

As a poet, however, he acquired distinction chiefly by the ease, simplicity and grace with which he gave expression to the passions and aspirations of daily life.

Although he had not been academically trained in music, he composed melodies for many of his songs, and a considerable number of them are sung by all classes in every part of Germany.

[3] The text of the song expresses the pan-German sentiments common to revolutionary republicans of the period, which were considered inflammatory and treasonous in the German-speaking principalities.

[citation needed] Other composers, including Amalie Scholl and Pauline Volkstein, set Hoffmann von Fallersleben's text to music.

[1] His editions of historic works include: Die deutsche Philologie im Grundriss ("Fundamentals of German Philology", 1836) was at the time of its publication a valuable contribution to philological research, and historians of German literature still attach importance to his In 1868–1870, Hoffmann published an autobiography in six volumes, Mein Leben: Aufzeichnungen und Erinnerungen ("My Life: Notes and Memories"; abbreviated ed.