The total number of texts used (given by the editor) is 217996.

Barons chose the stages of human life as the main principle of his arrangement, leaving in separate chapters only the songs that did not fit well enough into this framework. He continued the tradition for the first chapter to be "Songs on Singing". To have some general insight into the system below are the main chapter titles as arranged into the volumes.

There are six volumes in eight separate tomes. The songs are arranged in numbered song types.

Volume I types 1-5259

Volume II types 5260-13233

Volume III1 types 13234-15880

Volume III2 types 15881-21155

Volume III3 types 21156-27895

Volume IV types 27896-32208

Volume V types 32209-34378

Volume VI types 34379-35789