It is said that the word for music, yue (樂), is composed of the characters si for silk (絲) and mu for wood (木), and that it is a representation of the instrument.

During the Zhou dynasty, the se was considered an instrument of elites, and was used to play ritualistic music for sacrificial offerings.

By the Warring States period (5th century BC), the se began developing into early forms of the zheng, another type of plucked zither.

[4][5] Se was very popular in the pre Qin dynasty and the Han dynasty． Surviving specimens have been excavated from Hubei and Hunan provinces, as well as the Jiangnan region of China.

The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (late 5th century BC) in Hubei contained a wealth of musical instruments, including a se, a complete set of bianzhong (bronze bells), a guqin (plucked zither), stone chimes, and a drum.

It also says that Fuxi created the 50 stringed se, called a sha, whilst the Yellow Emperor reduced it to 25.

There are very few modern players of the se, which largely became extinct in ancient times, although it is conceptually survived by the zheng.

In Korea, the instrument is called seul, and is still used in Confucian ritual music, which is performed twice per year at the Munmyo Shrine in Seoul.