Introduced in 1928, it was named after a mountain flower, the Edelweiss (Leontopodium nivale), which is associated with alpinism and the Alps, and regarded as a symbol of Switzerland.

From its introduction until it was suspended in 1939 upon the outbreak of World War II, the Edelweiss was a luxury train operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL), and ran between Amsterdam CS in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Luzern station in Lucerne, Switzerland.

In 1957, it became one of the first of the first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE) trains, with its southern terminus moved from Basel further southeast, to Zürich HB in Zurich, Switzerland.

In 1974, the northern terminus of the Edelweiss was moved south, from Amsterdam to Brussels.

[1] On 27 May 1979, the Edelweiss was reclassified as a two-class express,[2] and on 6 April 1980 the train's Basel–Zurich section was dropped.