Completed in 1878, the composer premiered it at the Palais du Trocadéro as part of the Paris World Exhibition.

Widor composed the work, one of ten organ symphonies, when he was organist at Saint-Sulpice, a post he held from 1870.

The second movement, in three sections, present "sensual chromaticism", with a registration of "Gambes et Voix célestes".

[1] In 1882, Widor composed a version for organ and orchestra, Symphonie pour orgue et orchestre, op.

"At that lime [the rehearsals of Widor's ballet, La Korrignane, in fall 1880], the future Edward VII, prince of Wales, was spending the autumn in Paris and coming every evening to the Opera.

Before leaving Paris, he asked me if I would accept to come and play the organ in Royal Albert Hall for the occasion of a festival that he was organizing for the profit of his hospital in London ...." "For the occasion of the Albert Hall concert, I orchestrated my Symphony in G minor, with which I played two pieces of Bach....

The work was premiered at the Trocadéro on Tuesday 13 April 1882 and at the Royal Albert Hall in London a few weeks later, on Saturday 20 May 1882.

Widor played the organ part at both premieres and received excellent reviews as a composer and virtuoso.

In 1904, Charles-Marie Courboin, a recent graduate of the Brussels Conservatory, performed the symphony with the ''Société royale d'harmonie in Antwerp''.

Equipped with the only extant copies of the complete score and parts, Courboin gave the American premiere of Widor's symphony at the Wannamaker Department Store in Philadelphia on 27 March 1925 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, to an estimated audience of 12,000.

42(bis) is based on the central movement of Widor's Symphonie II for solo organ, composed in 1872.

This combination was a success, as the organ can function not only from its own language and sound morphology, but also as a large wind section of the orchestra.