The album was recorded and produced by Tunstall, co-produced by Luke Bullen and mastered by Jeremy Cooper.

Tunstall wrote all of the songs on the EP, notably recording each in a single take[4] in her solar-powered studio in the Berkshire countryside.

"The Hidden Heart" was written for the naturalist Bruce Parry's Survival project, "to try and gain land protection for indigenous people of the Amazon," she said.

The latter was first performed during a concert in Ireland in 2008, subsequently featuring in the compilation Songs for Survival with Piotr Lisiecki singing.

She continues to play songs from The Scarlet Tulip EP live to this day, including "Shanty Of The Whale" in 2013[5] and "Patience" in 2021.