Minimally sort a list into a matrix
Jelly, 24 22 20 bytes

pS€ỤỤs
LÆDżṚ$SÞḢç/ịṢ


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Saved 2 bytes thanks to @Jonathan Allan.

Explanation

pS€ỤỤs  Helper link. Input: integer a (LHS), integer b (RHS)
p       Cartesian product between [1, 2, ..., a] and [1, 2, ..., b]
 S€     Sum each pair
   Ụ    Grade up
    Ụ   Grade up again (Obtains the rank)
     s  Split into slices of length b

LÆDżṚ$SÞḢç/ịṢ  Main link. Input: list A
L              Length
 ÆD            Divisors
     $         Monadic pair
    Ṛ            Reverse
   ż             Interleave
                 Now contains all pairs [a, b] where a*b = len(A)
      SÞ       Sort by sum
        Ḣ      Head (Select the pair with smallest sum)
         ç/    Call helper link
            Ṣ  Sort A
           ị   Index into sorted(A)