Does the prequel come before the sequel?

Excuse me, but could you please clarify something for me? I'm a bit confused about the order of certain creative works. Specifically, I'm wondering if the prequel actually precedes the sequel in terms of narrative timeline? I've always understood that a prequel is meant to provide background or context for events that happen in a later work, but I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding the concept. So, does the prequel indeed come before the sequel, or is there some other aspect to their relationship that I'm missing?