Chrono Trigger was scored primarily by Yasunori Mitsuda, with assistance by veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.

A sound programmer at the time, Mitsuda was unhappy with his pay and threatened to leave Square if he could not compose music.

[2] Final Fantasy developer Hironobu Sakaguchi, one of the three designers for the upcoming Chrono Trigger, suggested he score the game, remarking, "maybe your salary will go up.

[3] He later attributed this track to an idea he was developing before Chrono Trigger, reflecting that the piece was made in dedication to "a certain person with whom I wanted to share a generation.

[8] While Mitsuda later held that the title piece was "rough around the edges," he maintains that it had "significant influence on my life as a composer.

"[5] At the time of the game's release, the number of tracks and sound effects was unprecedented, causing the soundtrack to span three discs in its 1995 commercial pressing.

[10] The album was well received by reviewers such as Liz Maas of RPGFan, who termed it "well worth its price" and noted that the tracks were very memorable and "always fit the mood in the game".

[10] IGN termed it "one of the best videogame soundtracks ever produced" and said that the music was a large part of the game's ability to "capture the emotions of the player".

[13] The Brink of Time came about because Mitsuda wanted to do something that no one else was doing, and he noted that acid jazz and its related genres were uncommon in the Japanese market.

[15] Mitsuda has stated that Ootsuki's arrangement technique left a strong impact on him and notably influenced his next score, the soundtrack to Front Mission: Gun Hazard.

Freddie W. of RPGFan, while calling the album "pretty good" overall, said that several of the tracks including "Zeal Palace" and "Warlock Battle" were "absolutely horrible" due to the "disgustingly bad" distorted guitars.

[13] Simon of Square Enix Music Online had a different reaction; he enjoyed the guitars in the tracks and said that the album had "skill, class, and a feel that's relatively original".

[17] Patrick Gann was disparaging of the North American version of the CD, however, saying that its shortened track list destroyed the main reason to buy the album.

[20] Mitsuda expressed difficulty in selecting the pieces for the orchestral medley, eventually picking a track from each era and certain character themes.

[5] While both tracks involve a full orchestra, "Chrono Trigger" is more heavily horn-based, while "Medley" relies more on stringed instruments.

[29] In 2013, Video game composer Blake Robinson officially licensed the compositions and released his new arrangements as "The Chrono Trigger Symphony".

[30] Video game cover artist Malcolm Robinson also licensed and released arrangements of 30 pieces from the soundtrack as "Chrono Trigger: Orchestral Selections".

The main theme of Chrono Trigger was played at the fifth of the Orchestral Game Music Concerts in 1996, and released on an accompanying album.

[34][35] The concerts featured a suite of music from both games interspersed together with the pieces from Trigger comprising "A Premonition", "Battle with Magus", "Chrono Trigger", "Peaceful Days", "Outskirts of Time", "Frog's Theme", and "To Far Away Times", as well as a boss battle suite that featured "Lavos’ Theme".

[37][38] An arrangement of "Light of Silence" was performed on July 9, 2011 at the Symphonic Odysseys concert, which commemorated the music of Uematsu.

The event, titled "The Brink of Time", included Mitsuda performing on the piano, guitar, and Irish bouzouki.