A larger number, L', of delta vectors .DELTA..sub.i (i=0, 1, 2, . . . , L'-1) than the required number L are each multiplied by a matrix of a linear predictive synthesis filter (3), their power (A.DELTA..sub.i).sup.T (A.DELTA..sub.i) is evaluated (42), and the delta vectors are reordered in decreasing order of power (43); then, L delta vectors are selected in decreasing order of power, the largest power first, to construct a tree-structure data code book (41), using which A-b-S vector quantization is performed (48). This provides increased freedom for the space formed by the delta vectors and improves quantization characteristics. Further, variable rate encoding is achieved by taking advantage of the structure of the tree-structure data code book.