1) Create a range of values and sort them
2) Copy the range and paste it elsewhere
3) Go to sort and sort.
If it doesn't sort as you would expect, check the Sort Key in the Sort dialog. When you go back to sort it does not replace the sort key that you have used with a previous sort.
In other words, if you sort range A1..D5 with the sort key A1, then copy and paste the range and try to sort, A1 will still be the sort key.