The article explores the problem of meaning perception in music. It gives a short review of the main issues discussed in Russian studies on relation of language and music. The paper deals with the experimental data of a sample case study. The data of associative and semantic differential experiment shows that understanding of the meaning of music depends on how familiar listener is with the music. A well-known melody is a part of the world’s image, having a specific place in the conceptual system, thus, the meaning of its cognitive frame [30] is used. On the other hand, if the musical fragment does not belong to a frame, its perception is limited to its emotional impact which is perceived as its meaning.