Jongmyo Jerye is a ceremony held for the king and queens of the Joseon Period in the shrine where the ancestral tablets of theirs are preserved. Jongmyo, along with the rituals where services for the Gods of Earth and Crops were performed, is considered as the important symbol which is the foundation of national survival.

Jongmyo Jerye was one of the five kinds of rites performed by the Joseon Dynasty's royal family. The five were classified as gillye (auspicious rites), hyungnye (funeral rites), binnye (reception ceremonies), gunnye (military rites), and garye (wedding ceremonies). The gillye includes the ritual service to the gods of heaven and earth and royal ancestral spirits. Besides the rite worshiping the royal ancestors, Jongmyo Jerye has also been dedicated to meritorious civil and military retainers.

The rite consisted of regular and extraordinary ceremonies. Regular ceremony was held in January, April, July, and October. Initially, extraordinary ceremony was held when auspicious occasions and national disasters occurred, but after the liberation from Japanese Imperialist rule, it was held at the first Sunday of May. As it was a model of all ceremonies for spirits, its order and procedures were very strict and solemn.

Jongmyo Jeryeak, Royal Ancestral Ritual Music, had been performed when royal people held a ceremony for the repose of their ancestors in the Shrine, just named 'Jongmyo-ak'. Each procedure of the ceremony was composed of various music such as 'Botaepyeong' and 'Jeongdae-eop', songs called 'Jongmyo-akjang' praising the achievements of the Joseon kings and their military exploits, and dances like 'Botaepyeong dance' and 'Jeongdae-eop dance'.

Jongmyo Jeryeak performed in Jongmyo Shrine consist of Botaepyeong, which has 11 music pieces, and Jeongdaeeop, which also has 11 music pieces. The musicians are divided into the upper terrace orchestra in the foreground, called the Deungga, and the lower terrace orchestra, called the Heonga. Some music pieces of Jongmyo Jeryeak had their roots in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty of China, and some grew in the native environment. These three different styles of music pieces are played with different instrumental ensembles.

Line dances are performed to the orchestral accompaniment of Deungga or Heonga in accordance with ritual procedures. Line dances aim at delineating the harmony of the negative and positive cosmic forces of yin and yang while they shifts between civil dance (Munmu), delineating the positive force of yang to praise the civil achievements of the Joseon kings, and military dance (Mumu), delineating the nature of negative force of yin to praise the military achievements of the Joseon kings, for which the hand-held props are changed appropriately.