[3] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

Apart from the first year it was presented, the award has been designated for "albums containing 51% or more playing time of vocal tracks", with "traditional" referring to the "composition, vocal styling, and the instrumental arrangement" of the body of music known as the Great American Songbook.

Prior to 2001, the Grammy was presented to the performing artists only; since then the award has been given to the performing artists, the engineers/mixers, as well as the producers, provided they worked on more than 51 percent of playing time on the album.

[6] However, the lead performing artist remains the only one to receive an official nomination.

Eligibility criteria for the category was expanded in 2025 to welcome more entries from the musical theater community, and it was mandated that albums must contain more than 75% of newly recorded and previously unreleased material.