[1] Along with the Weingarten Manuscript (MS. B) and the Codex Manesse (MS. C), it is one of the major sources of Minnesang texts from the beginnings (around 1150) to the end of the "golden age" (around 1230).

There is no certainty about the patron, though Conrad of Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strassburg has been suggested.

[2] It contains 45 parchment pages in small format (18.5 x 13.5cm),[1] hence its name, which distinguishes it from the larger format Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift ("Great Heidelberg Song-manuscript"), as the Codex Manesse is often called, which is held in the same library.

The main part of the manuscript is written by a single scribe and the language is Low Alemannic.

The main part of the manuscript is divided into 34 sections or author names; the material in the appendix is anonymous.