It is located in the province of Southern Finland and was part of the Eastern Uusimaa region.

The municipality was bilingual, with majority (74.9%) being Swedish and minority (23.8%) Finnish speakers.

Liljendal was originally the name of a seat farm (säteri) in the village of Sävträsk.

Its name may have been derived from that of an old Cistercian monastery in Lower Saxony, Lilienthal.

The name got its current meaning when the seat farm and nine villages near it became their own chapel community in 1791.