The soundtrack garnered critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Music Score—Substantially Original in 1963.

When choosing a composer for the film, director David Lean assumed that Malcolm Arnold—who had scored Lean's 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai—would compose for Lawrence of Arabia.

[1] When producer Sam Spiegel screened a rough draft of the film for Arnold and composer William Walton, however, the composers reportedly disliked the film, calling it "terrible" and "a travelogue that would require hours of music".

[2][5] The soundtrack was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra,[7][8] which consisted of 60 strings, 11 percussionists, two grand pianos, two harps, and three ondes Martenots.

[3][4] As in The Bridge on the River Kwai, which employed Kenneth Alford's "Colonel Bogey March", Lean wished to incorporate another Alford march in Lawrence of Arabia: "The Voice of the Guns".