The Dutch participating broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), selected its entry for the contest through Nationaal Songfestival 1998.

Performing during the show in position 18, the Netherlands placed fourth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 150 points.

Nationaal Songfestival 1998 was the national final developed by NOS that selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998.

The winner, "Hemel en aarde" performed by Edsilia Rombley, was selected by the 50/50 combination of a public televote and the votes of an eight-member expert jury.

[11] The expert jury panel consisted of Angela Groothuizen (singer), Cor Bakker (pianist), Cornald Maas (television editor), Martin Buitenhuis (singer-songwriter, member of the group Van Dik Hout), Sandra Reemer (singer, who represented the Netherlands in 1972, in 1976, and in 1979), Albert Verlinde (television producer and editor), Ton de Zeeuw (journalist at De Telegraaf) and Manuela Kemp (singer and television presenter), while 250,000 votes were cast by the public during the show.

[14] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the eight countries which had obtained the lowest average number of points over the last five contests competed in the final on 9 May 1998.

[15][16] The Dutch conductor at the contest was Dick Bakker, and the Netherlands finished in fourth place with 150 points.