He began writing the symphony in winter 1901 in Rapallo, Italy, shortly after the successful premiere of the popular Finlandia.

"[6] Although Baron Carpelan was penniless, he raised sufficient funds for Sibelius to stay in a mountain villa near Rapallo, Italy.

[7] More than a year after the first motifs were penned, the second symphony was premiered by the Helsinki Orchestral Society on 8 March 1902, with the composer conducting.

Sibelius's reaction to this has been widely debated; some claim that he had not intended any patriotic message and that the symphony was only identified by others as a nationalist composition, while others believe that he wrote the piece with an independent Finland in mind.

[10] Finnish composer Sulho Ranta [fi] said, "There is something about this music – at least for us – that leads us to ecstasy; almost like a shaman with his magic drum.

[13] Sibelius scored his second symphony for an orchestra consisting of standard instruments: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

Tying in with Sibelius' philosophy on the art of the symphony—he wrote that he "admired [the symphony's] severity of style and the profound logic that created an inner connection between all the motifs"[14]—the work grows almost organically out of a rising three-note motif heard at the opening of the work, first unstable and pastoral, then appearing in many guises throughout the entire symphony (and indeed forming the basis for most of the material), including forming the dramatic theme of the finale.

"[16] On the same piece of paper, he wrote the bassoon theme for the first part of the second movement, out of which a pizzicatoed string "walking bass" stems.

Two months later in Florence, he drafted the second theme, with a note reading "Christus," perhaps symbolizing the death and resurrection of the movement, or even of Finland.

Nonetheless, Robert Kajanus said that the movement "strikes one as the most broken-hearted protest against all the injustice that threatens at the present time to deprive the sun of its light and our flowers of their scent.

"[20] Kajanus wrote that the last movement "develops towards a triumphant conclusion intended to rouse in the listener a picture of lighter and confident prospects for the future.

The first recording, sponsored by the Finnish Government, was made by Robert Kajanus with an unnamed orchestra for the British Columbia label in May 1930 at the Central Hall, Westminster on nine 78 rpm sides.

[22] On the Saturday 5 January 2013 broadcast of BBC Radio 3's CD Review – Building a Library, music critic Erica Jeal in her survey recommended the 1995 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Colin Davis, as the best available choice.