the Model\MenuNode is just a base class with limited functionality for minimal use. what is normally used is Doctrine\Phpcr\MenuNode . in this bundle indeed it does not currently add any behaviour, but in other bundles the storage specific documents do add specific things. adding it to the Doctrine\Phpcr\MenuNode one would be cleaner as we do not strictly need referenceable and things in Model should be minimal, whereas things in Doctrine\Phpcr should be maximal.