The text is based on copies which were prepared from an original draft some time during the Isin Larsa period (c 1950-1700 B.C.E.). The original itself must be appreciably older, and it is believed today to date from the 40th century B.C.E. The passage relating to Lilith reads as follows:

From S.N. Kramer: "Gilgamesh and the Huluppa-Tree. A Reconstructed Sumerian Text," in Assyriological Studies of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago, 1938, p. 1f

"After heaven and earth had been separated and mankind had been created, after Anu, Enlil and Ereskigal had taken possession of heaven, earth and the underworld; after Enki had set sail for the underworld and the sea ebbed and flowed in honor of its lord; on this day, a huluppa tree (probably a linden tree), which had been planted on the bank of the Euphrates and nourished by its waters, was uprooted by the south wind and carried away by the Euphrates. A goddess, who was wandering along the banks seized the swaying tree and--- at the behest of Anu and Enlil--- brought it to Inanna's garden in Uruk. Inanna tended the tree carefully and lovingly; she hoped to have a throne and a bed made for herself from its wood. After ten years, the tree had matured. But in the meantime, she found to her dismay that her hopes could not be fulfilled. Because during that time, a dragon had built its nest at the foot of the tree, the Zu-bird was raising its young in the crown, and the demon Lilith had built her house in the middle. But Gilgamesh, who had heard of Inanna's plight, came to her rescue. He took his heavy shield, killed the dragon with his gigantic bronze axe, which weighed seven talents and seven minas. Then the Zu-bird flew into the mountains with its young, while Lilith, petrified with fear, tore down her house and fled into the wilderness."