Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal

Its impetus was the inaugural 1849 Nederlandsch Congres ("Dutch Congress"), a conference of linguists from the Netherlands and Belgium.

The conference, which was held alternately south and north of the border, ran from 1849 to 1912; its goal was to (re-)establish contacts between Netherlanders and Belgians (after Belgium split off from the Netherlands in 1830) and to lend strength to the Flemish movement in Belgium (which was up against the widespread influence of French).

At that first conference, in August 1849 at Ghent University, it was proposed that a dictionary be written "for our common tongue".

Also part of the project was spelling reform; De Vries's coauthor Lammert Allard te Winkel [nl] (1809–1868) designed the new orthography, though the system is named for both.

Besides its sheer size and its historical value, the WNT is credited with supporting the "integrationist" movement in Flanders, that is, those who sought a rapprochement between the speakers of Dutch in the Netherlands and Belgium.