The sole surviving copy of the Songs of Dzitbalché was written in alphabetic Mayan in the 18th century.
The author of the book identifies himself as Ah Bam, an elder of the town of Dzitbalché.
The Book of the Dances of the Ancients, its original name, was changed to the current title by its first translator.
The first full Spanish translation was crafted by the Mexican anthropologist and linguist Barrera Vásquez in 1965.
In 1982, Munro Edmunson produced an English version, followed by John Curl's online publication in 2005 of selected pieces from the codex.