Die Lieder der Mormonin (Songs of the Mormon Woman) was first published anonymously in 1887 by Hermann Dürselen in Leipzig and also (at least as claimed on the frontispiece) by A. Booth in Utah. The first edition was not in book form, but was a scroll, with poems printed on both sides of paper, glued together and attached to two ornately carved wood spindles. The narrative formed by the hundred poems follows the sexual journey of the protagonist and her husband—from their initial flirtation to the coupling climax, followed by his departure and abandonment in favor of another wife. Its exotic form and erotic content caused a sensation in the German-speaking world and it was banned in Austria as pornographic. After two editions of the scroll, it was published in book form in 1888 and went through at least seven editions by 1900.

While the poetry was initially published anonymously, it was later revealed to be the first published work of fiction by Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz, a woman not unknown to celebrity or scandal. She was born into a Jewish family in 1852 in Moravia and studied to become a teacher, learning Czech, Italian, French, English, and Hungarian. Over the course of her life, she lived and worked in Budapest, Munich, and Vienna, where she was well known in literary, artistic, and intellectual circles.