In most undead lore, there IS no evolution tree. In fact, it goes the other way, a line of negative succession in which each generation of undead from a given line gets weaker, and it's such a fast degredation that only the absolute highest classes of undead can create other undead.
That said, yes, there is a strength higherarchy among undead, and usually how each strength tier of undead is created is of increasing difficulty in conjunction with their strength.
The power scale goes like this.
Corporial type undead
(Undead types with physical bodies that can be destroyed)
1. Skeletons: The weakest type of undead, usually created by some form of necromantic energy reanimating the bones of the deceased. There is some variance in the strength of skeletons depending on what the bones belonged to, but within the same type of creature they are always the weakest.
2. Zombies: Zombies are somewhat stronger than skeletons in a physical sense, but the thing that REALLY sets zombies above skeletons is that they can usually pass on negative effects by their bite or by scratching their victim. In the more sci-fi geared zombies typical of zombie movies in which zombism is transmitted by some form of virus that infects living victims, this effect is especially potent in that the bite and scratch will transmit the virus and actually turn the victim into another zombie. However, for more fantasy-related zombies, the bite and scratch tend to only have paralytic effects on average.
3. Ghouls: Ghouls are most famously created as the thralls of a Vampire (thus the comment of higher tier undead creating lower tier undead.) A ghoul is in every single way an upgraded version of a zombie, usually having most of the same characteristics in terms of outward appearance, but in most lore they retain a great deal more of their human intelligence than a zombie would. In some lore, even fantasy in nature, the bite of a ghoul will indeed turn the victim into another ghoul.
4. Death knights: Death knights can be best thought of as a powerfully upgraded version of a skeleton created in a special and unique way that is entirely unlike the skeleton's creation process, but in appearance the main difference between a skeleton and a death knight is that the death knight is often wearing full armor. Unlike a skeleton, a death knight will have great supernatural strength and speed, and also has human levels of intelligence and awareness. These are the only class of undead that can often be portrayed as good in nature, as sometimes there is lore where a noble warrior will rise to protect something long after their death.
5. Vampires: Vampires have a rich and varied lore that would take far too long to get into here, but most people are usually familiar with it. The main things of note are that, depending on the method, vampires are able to create other vampires equal or lesser in power to themselves, and can also create ghouls, depending on the method. Usually, the method of conversion from a human to a vampire or ghoul is the same, but the main difference is either consent of the person being turned (having it forced upon you turns you into a ghoul instead of a vampire) or the virginity status of the person being turned (virgins become vampires, non-virgins become ghouls.)
6. Lich: In all lore, the Lich is always considered to be the very highest class of undead. A lich is a mage who uses powerful magic to bind their soul to an object called their philactary. After binding their soul in this way, they can inhabit a skeletal body which, if destroyed, will cause them to simply be forced back to their philactary until they can inhabit a new body. As such, a lich is unkillable unless you can find and destroy their philactary (which they often hide extremely well.) Due to the powerful magic needed to turn themselves into a lich in the first place, a lich will always also be an incredibly powerful mage in addition to the innate nature of lichhood making them incredibly difficult to kill.
Incorporeal undead
(Undead without physical bodies)
1. Whisp: A whisp is the physical manifestation of a disembodied soul, often appearing as a floating ball of light. A whisp often does not have the ability to affect the physical world, or at most can exert some minor telekinesis or affect the air temperature, but a whisp being visible often means there are other stronger undead around.
2. Shade: A shadowy silhouette of a person that often appears outside of one's peripheral vision. This is, in fact, a type of undead. It is a shadow that can move on it's own, independent of a physical body that would cast the shadow.
3. Apparition: "Apparition" literally means "appearance." They appear as the ghostly images of people, but often don't have the ability to do much more than have their physical presence be noticed.
4. Poltergeist: Literally "noisy ghost." A poltergeist is an incorporeal type of undead who often does not appear physically as a whisp or apparition would, but they have far greater ability to affect the physical world by moving objects around, dramatically shifting the air temperature (but usually no more extreme than the range of a hot summer day to a cold winter day), or even cause a person some physical damage such as causing scratches to appear on their skin.
5. Hitogata: This one is exclusively from Japanese lore, but it is a dramatically more powerful version of the whisp. Instead of being made of incorporial soul material, a hitogata actually has a body of fire and can start fires if it so desires.
6. Ghost: A ghost is typically portrayed as being an apparition with the full abilities of a poltergeist as well, and manifesting both of these capacities at once is thought to mean it is a far more powerful version of incorporeal undead than either of the two.
7. Wraith: A vastly upgraded version of a shadow with all the same physical features, but it has the ability to physically attack and damage things.
Those are all the standard types of undead without going into copyright territory. There are also unique class undead who lean more toward one or the other, such as the ring wraiths from LOTR, which have the name "wraith," but appear more like death knights wearing hooded cloaks.
