Two notes in Mahler's handwriting dating from June 1906 show that early schemes for the work, which he may not at first have intended as a fully choral symphony, were based on a four-movement structure in which two "hymns" surround an instrumental core.
Dúas notas do puño e letra de Mahler con data de xuño de 1906 mostran que os primeiros plans para a obra, a cal non tiña pensado escribir por completo como unha sinfonía coral, estaban baseados nunha estrutura de catro movementos na cal dous "himnos" rodean a un núcleo instrumental.