The prehistoric rock carvings at Alpage De Cotter and the Maison d’habitation in Les Haudères are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, issuant from a base Vert a mountain Argent, in chief dexter two Mullets of Five and a bird vollant all Or.

[4] On 21 February 1999, Evolène was the place of a number of fatal avalanches that caused the deaths of 12 people.

The amount of snow that fell during the end of January and the month of February was huge.

At precisely 8.27 pm, the first two avalanches were set off on the slopes above Villa, at an altitude around 2,600 m (8,500 ft).

The two avalanches continued to run along the extremities of Villa and eventually formed as one massive fusion of snow and debris reaching up to 15 m (49 ft) high that came to rest 1,000 m (3,300 ft) down the slope, after taking 12 lives and cutting off the main road between Evolène and des Haudères.

This is due to the broken nature of its surrounding alpine terrain, which includes the highest point in the commune, la Dent Blanche (white tooth) at 4,357 m (14,295 ft).

Other villages that make up the Evolène commune, such as Arolla, les Haudères, La Sage, La Forclaz and Villa do not benefit from the same level of natural protection as Evolène and are therefore exposed to more risks and have thus become less desirable to develop.

The small village of les Haudères is closely situated to Evolène, at the very extremity of Val d'Hérens.

The even smaller villages of Villa and La Sage are found about 300 meters (980 ft) up from Evolène.

Orientated towards the South, Villa and La Sage benefit from generous sunlight hours.

They are also situated near large Swiss mountain meadows which extend up to an altitude of 2,700 meters (8,900 ft).

The villages of Evolène and Les Haudères and the hamlet of Lana are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[5] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (1,471 or 96.6%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (20 or 1.3%) and German is the third (13 or 0.9%).

[5] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][16] Evolène is one of the few Swiss-Romande municipalities still using a variety of Arpitan (also known as "Franco-Provençal") for oral communication.

Evolène is considered as the last stronghold of the Arpitan language across the Swiss part of its historical domain.

[17] From the 2000 census[update], 1,379 or 90.6% were Roman Catholic, while 39 or 2.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

Traditional annual cow fights are held around the beginning of May each year (signalling the release of cows after spending the winter indoors) and jointly shared between Evolène, les Haudères and La Sage.

In the tertiary sector; 61 or 26.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 17 or 7.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 94 or 41.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 1.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 12 or 5.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 3.5% were in education and 13 or 5.7% were in health care.