[1] It was prompted by a performance of the Septet by Saint-Saëns, inspiring Debussy to write chamber music again which he had neglected since his string quartet of 1893.

[2]: 5 Debussy composed the Cello Sonata as the first of the set within a few weeks in July at the Normandy seaside town of Pourville.

He wrote to his publisher Durand on 5 August that he would send the manuscript of what he described as a sonata in "almost classical form in the best sense of the word".

[4] Despite other information, the sonata was premiered in London's Aeolian Hall by cellist C. Warwick Evans and Ethel Hobday on 4 March 1916.

"[4] Debussy confirmed in a letter to Durand dated 16 October 1916 that the cellist had visited him the previous night, and seemed to have misunderstood him and the music.

She used Debussy's sketches from a private collection for the first time, dealing with the balance of the instruments and attempting to clarify ambiguities in the autograph and the first edition, many of which, unfortunately, remain unresolvable.

It also uses many types of extended cello technique, including left-hand pizzicato, spiccato and flautando bowing, false harmonics and portamenti.

A reviewer from Gramophone noted that Guye played "sensitive nuances" and Rogé provided spontaneity and "the requisite spirit of caprice" in the second movement.

[9] It was recorded by cellist Edgar Moreau and pianist Bertrand Chamayou in 2017 in a collection of chamber music including the three late sonatas.