The author of the song is unknown. The melody derives from "Als Chursachsen das vernommen" (1683) and has also been adopted in the period before the German revolutions of 1848–1849 to (Whether we [wear] red or yellow collars). Josef Strauss composed in 1865 his Prinz Eugen March, Op. 186, for the unveiling of a statue of Prince Eugene at the Heldenplatz in Vienna; it uses elements of the folksong.