自六朝至五代，〈折楊柳〉、〈楊柳枝〉、〈柳枝詞〉三題歌詞相禪的情形與日俱增，主題亦漸從描寫兵革苦辛、閨人思遠戍轉向描寫歌舞娛樂與豔情，樂府詩歌裡的柳枝意象逐漸固定。三題創作在唐五代達到高峰，此後僅見北宋張詠〈柳枝詞〉七首刻意模仿〈折楊柳〉、〈楊柳枝〉慣見的史故與主題，但是筆法棄艷從樸；並且別出新意，於詩中直言此題內容已逐漸轉為「鄭聲」，形成傳統樂府歌詞與論詩詩並存的獨特現象。分析張詠〈柳枝詞〉轉向論詩詩的創作動機與手法，當是受薛能〈柳枝詞〉的影響。不同的是，薛能是因不滿劉白歌詞蔚為流行而打算另製新聲，張詠的批評卻是帶有道德意識與儒家惡鄭聲的傳統。〈柳枝詞〉自張詠之後，再無人如此用心的編排內容，是以張詠〈柳枝詞〉七首堪稱此題之集大成者

From the Six Dynasties to the Five Dynasties in China, the intertextuality of the following Yuefu Songs-Broken Willow Branch, Willow Branch, and Willow Branch Song-had become more and more notable. The topics of these Yuefu Songs thus underwent a change, from the depiction of military life and boudoir blues to the description of revelry and debauchery. As a result, the image of the willow branch in Yuefu became fixed afterwards. The composition of poems drawn from the three Yuefu Songs reached its peak of popularity in the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. After that, only the seven pieces of Willow Branch Song composed by Chang Yung, a literatus in the Northern Song Dynasty, were seen as a deliberate imitation of Broken Willow Branch and Willow Branch. Though these seven poems imitated the history and topic of Yuefu Songs, compared with the overwrought style of Yuefu, they were written in a plain way. Another thing making Chang Yung's work unique is that he said the content of his Song had changed into ＂the songs of Cheng,＂ bringing about a unique phenomenon of the coexistence of traditional Yuefu Songs and poems on poetry. Influenced by Late Tang poet Xue Neng's prefaces to Broken Willow and Willow Branch Song, Chang Yung's work made the switch mentioned above. The difference between the two poets' motives of creation is that Xue Neng meant to resist the popularity of Willow Branch written by Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi while Chang Yung meant to promote moral consciousness and the Confucian tradition of disinclination toward Songs of Cheng. After Chang Yung, no one composed a Willow Branch Song as elaborate as he did. This makes Chang Yung's work an icon of the genre of Willow Branch Song