The poem was written in 1840 by Suebian merchant Max Schneckenburger in response to French expansionary sentiment, and set to music in 1854 by the musical director of the city of Krefeld, Karl Wilhelm. The repeated refrain is "Lieb' Vaterland, magst ruhig sein, Fest steht und treu die Wacht am Rhein!"
The song plays a role in several fictional settings. When it is sung in the movie Casablanca, it is drowned out by La Marseillaise which is sung in response. It provides the title for Lillian Hellman's cautionary pre-World War II play Watch on the Rhine. Its melody is adapted by Kander and Ebb in their musical play and movie Cabaret as a fictional Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", meant to be reminiscent both of "Die Wacht am Rhein" and the "Horst Wessel Song".