The density of a fluid or gas, which depends on the temperature, pressure and concentration of dissolved substances or suspended particles, changes under the influence of a large number of physical factors. We assume that an undisturbed liquid is heterogeneous. The propagation of periodic flows in viscous, uniformly stratified fluids is considered. The analysis is based on a system of fundamental equations for the transfer of energy, momentum and matter in periodic flows. Taking into account the compatibility condition, dispersion relations are constructed for two-dimensional internal, acoustic and surface linear periodic flows with a positive definite frequency and complex wave number in a compressible viscous fluid exponentially stratified by density. The temperature conductivity and diffusion effects are neglected. The obtained regularly perturbed solutions of the dispersion equations describe the conventional weakly damped waves. The families of singular solutions, specific for every kind of periodic flow, characterize the before unknown thin ligaments that accompany each type of wave. In limited cases, the constructed regular solutions transform into well-known expressions for a viscous homogeneous and an ideal fluid. Singular solutions are degenerated in a viscous homogeneous fluid or disappear in an ideal fluid. The developing method of the fundamental equation system analysis is directed to describe the dynamics and spatial structure of periodic flows in heterogeneous fluids in linear and non-linear approximations.