The cnoidal wave solutions of the KdV equation were presented by Korteweg and de Vries in their 1895 paper, which article is based on the PhD thesis by de Vries in 1894.  Solitary wave solutions for nonlinear and dispersive long waves had been found earlier by Boussinesq in 1872, and Rayleigh in 1876. The search for these solutions was triggered by the observations of this solitary wave (or "wave of translation") by Russell, both in nature and in laboratory experiments. Cnoidal wave solutions of the KdV equation are stable with respect to small perturbations.
The surface elevation η(x,t), as a function of horizontal position x and time t, for a cnoidal wave is given by:
where H is the wave height, λ is the wavelength, c is the phase speed and η is the trough elevation. Further cn is one of the Jacobi elliptic functions and K(m) is the complete elliptic integral of the first kind; both are dependent on the elliptic parameter m. The latter, m, determines the shape of the cnoidal wave. For m equal to zero the cnoidal wave becomes a cosine function, while for values close to one the cnoidal wave gets peaked crests and (very) flat troughs. For values of m less than 0.95, the cnoidal function can be approximated with trigonometric functions.
An important dimensionless parameter for nonlinear long waves (λ ≫ h) is the Ursell parameter:
For small values of U, say U < 5, a linear theory can be used, and at higher values nonlinear theories have to be used, like cnoidal wave theory. The demarcation zone between—third or fifth order—Stokes and cnoidal wave theories is in the range 10–25 of the Ursell parameter.  As can be seen from the formula for the Ursell parameter, for a given relative wave height H/h the Ursell parameter—and thus also the nonlinearity—grows quickly with increasing relative wavelength λ/h'.
Based on the analysis of the full nonlinear problem of surface gravity waves within potential flow theory, the above cnoidal waves can be considered the lowest-order term in a perturbation series. Higher-order cnoidal wave theories remain valid for shorter and more nonlinear waves. A fifth-order cnoidal wave theory was developed by Fenton in 1979. A detailed description and comparison of fifth-order Stokes' and fifth-order cnoidal wave theories is given in the review article by Fenton.
Cnoidal wave descriptions, through a renormalisation, are also well suited to waves on deep water, even infinite water depth; as found by Clamond.  A description of the interactions of cnoidal waves in shallow water, as found in real seas, has been provided by Osborne in 1994.