It is located within the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park, roughly between the main crest of the Hunsrück mountains (to the northwest) and the Nahe valley (to the southeast), behind which the Saar-Nahe Uplands rise.

Numerous attempts to explain its origin link the word with Senn ("pasture") or Sone ("pig herd") and indicate the centuries-old function of the Soonwald as a grazing forest.

Tumuli, such as the Alte Grab south of Argenthal, castle ruins and today's settlements and villages suggest that Soonwald and the surrounding area have been inhabited for a long time.

The picturesque ruins of Wildenburg castle and of the Koppenstein on the northern part of the Soonwald ridge became legendary sites in the 19th century thanks to romantic ballads composed by Hunsrück poets, Otto von Vacano and Peter Joseph Rottmann.

When searching for an area in the Hunsrück in which to create a National Park, the state's Environment Ministry saw the Soonwald region as an option, alongside the Schwarzwälder Hochwald in the county of Birkenfeld.