[1] In the words of Richmond Browne, a founding member of the Society and its first secretary, "Our goal was to create a profession.

"[3] After a number of more informal discussions, there were two National Conferences on Music Theory, the first in 1976 in Boston and the second on October 19, 1977, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

While organizers were wary about collecting enough momentum, three hundred scholars turned up for the Evanston meeting, and the society was founded with an initial membership including almost 500 theorists.

[3] The name of the new organization was suggested by Maury Yeston, then of the Yale faculty, in the form of a motion that was passed unanimously.

In 1991, after the death of prominent scholar Wallace Berry, who was a founding officer and former president of the SMT (1982-1985),[8] an award was named in his honor to recognize a distinguished book by any scholar, after which the "Outstanding Publication" award was only given for journal articles.