jQuery .parents() gets all parent ancestors of the target element;
If you need to get parent element one level up check .parent() method;
<script>
$(function() {
$('.target').parents().prepend($('<span class="label">parent</span> '));
$('.target').parents('.selector').prepend($('<span class="label label-info">parent with selector</span> '));
});
</script>
html:
<div class="well">
<div class="well selector">
.selector
<div class="well">
<div class="well selector">
.selector
<div class="well">
<strong class="target">.target</strong>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>