Written by frontman Ian Anderson, it features a folk-rock style that characterizes the Songs from the Wood album.

He explained, "I wrote 'Songs From the Wood' based on elements of folklore and fantasy tales and traditions of the British rural environment.

Our PR guy, Jo Lustig, had given me a book about English folklore as a Christmas present, and I thumbed through it and found lots of little interesting ideas and characters and stories and things that I decided to evolve into a series of songs.

Allmusic's Bruce Eder said that "the harmonizing on 'Songs From the Wood' fulfills the promise shown in some of the singing on Thick as a Brick.

[6] Ultimate Classic Rock named the song Jethro Tull's fourth best, saying "The title track of Tull's tenth album threw everything but the burning campfire depicted on its cover at unsuspecting listeners, categorically dazzling them with its serpentine blend of rock, folk and classical music, not to mention those delightfully fey lyrics, delivered barbershop quartet-style by the band.