今存「漢樂府」並非在「漢代」即稱為「漢樂府」，由此稱名所概括的作品亦非穩定不變，所以如此，乃因作品留存不多，多數佚名，並經長時期輯集整理所致。依現存可見文獻，《樂府詩集》正是承前啟後形成今存「漢樂府」整體作品輪廓的重要環節。其後，經由元明時期的詩集、擬作、詩論，針對《樂府詩集》所錄有實無名的「漢樂府」作品群，牽涉輯錄、稱名、辨覈等因素的輯理而形成一批明確屬「漢」的歌謠、樂府。在此之中，生成了文獻意義與詩學意義的「漢樂府」。現今所見「漢樂府」兼收「徒歌之謠」，佚名「古辭」劃歸「漢樂府」，「古辭」、「漢魏古辭」、「古樂府」、「漢樂府」等稱名使用以及學人對「漢樂府」詩學的認識與把握，即是漢以迄明「漢樂府」輯理情況的延續與反映。

Surviving Han yuefu 樂府 poetry was not called Han yuefu during the Han dynasty, and thus, the collections of poetic works falling under this appellation are varied and inconsistent. The reason for this is that the works have been preserved in limited quantities, the majority of the writings are anonymous, as well as the collections undergoing long periods of editing and compilation. Based on present documents, Yuefu shiji 樂府詩集 (Collection of Yuefu Poetry), compiled during the 11th century, had precisely inherited the past and informed the future, forming a monolithic construction for the entirety of today’s surviving Han yuefu works. Thereafter, through the anthologizing of poems, imitation, and poetics during the Yuan and Ming dynasties which were concerned with the editing, titling, and verification of Han yuefu, factors were established that clarified which ballads or folk songs and yuefu poems were “Han,” thus creating the literary and poetic meanings of Han yuefu. From our current observations of Han yuefu, “ballads without musical accompaniment” 徒歌之謠 and anonymous guci 古辭 have been classified as and incorporated into Han yuefu, and the use of the categories guci, Han-Wei guci 漢魏古辭, gu yuefu 古樂府, and Han yuefu as well as the understanding of the poetics of Han yuefu grasped by scholars both are a continuation and reflection of compilations undertaken from the Han to Ming dynasties.