The genesis of the work stems from many sources, including a conversation Brian had with Henry Wood about writing a suite that would revive the older instruments that had fallen out of use in the modern symphony orchestra, such as the oboe d'amore or basset horn.

[4] The work (more specifically the first three orchestral movements) was submitted in 1928 as an entry for the 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition in memory of Schubert and won second prize in the 'English Zone' of that contest; in the final international judging in Vienna it was one of a number of works – others were by Czesław Marek, Franz Schmidt and Charles Haubiel – that lost out to the Sixth Symphony of Kurt Atterberg.

In practice, some small reductions can be made without discernible loss (e.g. cutting two of the orchestral trumpets and the doubling to 2nd contrabass trombone).

The first movement appears to feature two extremely contrasted ideas in the style of sonata form, one a vigorous leaping figure in D minor, the other a suave melody first stated on solo violin in the remote key of D-flat major, though the working out of the music involves a process of ongoing development within the exposition, and avoids the expected re-capitulation by reversing the order of musical events, with the return of the first idea effectively starting the coda.

After various developments culminating in a bizarre polytonal passage with a virtuoso xylophone cadenza, the theme is transformed into a climactic march which eventually throws the movement into the home key of D minor, and subsides quietly with the original statement of the music for horns followed by a harp arpeggio and a final chord of D major.

The eclecticism of Brian's music here borrows references as diverse as mediaeval fauxbourdon, Renaissance multiple polyphony on the scale of Tallis's Spem in alium all the way through to twentieth century tone clusters, polytonality and the use of percussion and brass in a Varèse-like outburst of extreme dissonance.

The start of the fifth movement involves only the choirs in a fearsomely chromatic un-accompanied polyphonic passage, after which the soprano soloist gently sings a wordless vocalise "like an indefinite intonation".

Thereafter the sixth and final movement continues with even more contrasted and episodic treatment of the text as the music seems to struggle to reach a conclusion.

Attempts to perform the symphony have frequently met with failure, beginning with the efforts of Hamilton Harty and Eugene Goossens in the depression-affected 1930s and enduring to the current day, usually owing to the extreme logistics of the work.