Ten concentric spherical layers of cosmic evolution initiated of the infinitesimally small. The primordial Godseed forever expanding at the SOL into nothingness.
The seed that will ultimately come to fruition as a metaphorical tree of life. The seed to tree and the tree to seed, ad infinitum.
i.e. the infinity that be forever scattered to the winds of eternity...
Kabbalah which is the Jewish spelling, Qabalah the Hermetic, and Cabala the Christian or otherwise. I am only interested in the former two and have no discourse on the latter.
There are two distinct Tree of Life models : the Ari Tree, and the Gra Tree.
The Ari Tree is used both in the context of Jewish Kabbalah as well as Hermetic Qabalah. The former is named after rabbi Isaac Luria who developed it, and is more precisely referred to as the Lurianic Model. This would put the date of its' implementation at the 16th century CE or later.
The Gra Tree, or, Perfected Tree is apparently quite a bit older as there may have been mention of this in the Sepher Yetzirah. Which is one of the oldest known Kabbalistic texts in existence. With MSS dating back to the dawn of the current era, and goes back even further as prior to that there was an oral tradition.
The major difference between the two trees is that one is more symmetrical - hence the name Perfected Tree. The invisible sephirah, or Da'ath in the Perfected, or Gra Tree is non-existent, and the three sephiroth below it are shifted up rendering a perfect symmetry. Thus Da'ath is replace by the 6th.
Some models also just simply replace Da'ath with the 10th also rendering perfect symmetry and to signify the tree 'before the fall'. Although this does not conform well with the Hermetic axiom : As above so below. Where we would have the 9th Emanation(the Moon) below which doesn't make nearly as much sense.
The Gra Tree also renders two perfect hexagrams as opposed to the Lurianic model with two central sephiroth of each hexagram perfectly surrounded by six spheres. A further reiteration of the 'perfected' aspects of this model.
To illustrate the spiritual dynamics of the Tree Of Life, the ten holy sephiroth existing in the four Qabalistic worlds. A reflection is cast down as if to render a malevolent twin : the inverse tree; Qliphothic/Qlippothic, or, Tree Of Death.
The aforementioned duality synonymous with something along the lines of :