Among the composers who set his poetry to music are Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms, Josef Rheinberger, Mahler (song cycles Kindertotenlieder, Rückert-Lieder), Max Reger, Richard Strauss, Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Bartók, Berg, Hugo Wolf and Heinrich Kaspar Schmid.
KTL is a musical duo consisting of Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), originally formed to create the music for a theater production titled Kindertotenlieder by Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper.
Notable examples of the orchestral song cycle in Germany and Austria include Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder and several cycles by Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, Des Knaben Wundernhorn; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; and Kindertotenlieder.