47 entries competed to represent Moldova in Stockholm, with 24 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel.

After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February 2016, "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Performing during the show in position 3, "Falling Stars" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub.

[3] O melodie pentru Europa 2016 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

[4] The first round was scheduled to occur on 10 December 2015 where a jury panel was supposed to shortlist fifty entries from the received submissions.

The sixteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 27 February 2016 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote.

[5] The sixteen songs that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury.

The jury that voted in the final included Iurie Mahovici (musician), Valeria Barbas (composer, musicologist), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Boris Cremene (actor), Geta Voinovan (singer-songwriter), Ion Brătescu (leader of the National Opera and Ballet Theater), Svetlana Gozun (dancer), Paul Gămurari (lecturer and member of the Union of Composers and Musicologists in Moldova), Ion Razza (singer), Liviu Știrbu (composer) and Aliona Moon (singer, 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant).

[17] Following Romania's disqualification from the contest on 22 April, TRM and Lidia Isac's team extended an invitation for the Romanian entrant, Ovidiu Anton, to join her on stage during her performance.

[19] On 29 April, Lidia Isac was a guest during the Moldova 1 programme Bună dimineaţa where she premiered the official music video for "Falling Stars".

[20] Lidia Isac made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Falling Stars" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry.

[21] On 3 April, Isac performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.

[22] On 9 April, Isac performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.