Founded as a non-profit institution in June 1925, the organization was dedicated to supporting and furthering the careers of talented young American classical musicians.
Winners of the competition were then awarded by having a concert series organized and promoted for them by the NML, thereby helping them to gain wider public recognition.
[2] In 1935 the NML presented a production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel at the White House after a luncheon hosted by Eleanor Roosevelt.
[3] Beginning in 1950 the NML began a partnership with the Jeunesses Musicales International in France which resulted in an annual foreign-exchange of artists.
American musicians to have participated in the exchange program to France included Sidney Harth (1951-1952), Theodore Lettvin (1951-1952), Lillian Kallir (1953), James Wolfe (1954), Shirlee Emmons (1954), and Betty Allen (1955) among others.