It is a janya rāgam (derived scale), as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes).
It is a pentatonic scale (audava-audava ragam[1][2] in Carnatic music classification – audava meaning 'of 5').
Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms): (notes used in this scale are antara gandharam, prati madhyamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham, kakali nishadham) Sunadavinodini is considered a janya rāgam of Gamanashrama, the 53rd Melakarta rāgam, though it can be derived from 2 other melakarta rāgams, Kalyani or Kosalam, by dropping both rishabham and panchamam.
Sunadavinodini rāgam lends itself for elaboration and exploration and has many compositions.
Sunadavinodini's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 2 other pentatonic rāgams, namely, Shivaranjani and Revati.