[4][5] The parish of Nordre Odalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).

[7] On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Odal, using an alternate word for "north" and removing the definite form ending -en.

The official blazon is "Or, two wood grapples sable in pale" (Norwegian: I gull to svarte tømmersakser, 1-1).

This design was chosen to represent the historic traditions of forestry and logging in the municipality.

This kind of grapple was invented by a local boy named Nell Gravlie (1897-1980) when he was only 12 years old, the design was copyrighted in 1928.

It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.