The essays came into existence as programme notes, written by Tovey, to accompany concerts given (mostly under his own baton) by the Reid Orchestra in Edinburgh.
Tovey's Essays were written as introductory notes for the concert-going public and are occasionally light-hearted in tone.
Nevertheless, they analyse the pieces and describe their structure in much more depth than standard programme notes, even in a few pages each.
Tovey saw his role as being "counsel for the defence" (Introduction to Volume I): in speaking up on behalf of the work about to be performed, he was seeking to facilitate the listener's appreciation of its artistic content and technical merits.
As a result, his approach tends to 'track' the structure of a work as it unfolds through time before the ear of his imaginary 'naive listener'.