Brahms, who was impatient with the minutiae of slurs marking the bowing, rather than phrasing, as was his usual practice, asked Joachim's advice on the writing of the solo violin part.

[3] Joachim, who had first been alerted when Brahms informed him in August that "a few violin passages" would be coming in the mail, was eager that the concerto should be playable and idiomatic, and collaborated willingly, but not all his advice was heeded in the final score.

[4] The most familiar cadenza, which appears in the first movement, is by Joachim,[5] though a number of people have provided alternatives, including Leopold Auer, Henri Marteau, Max Reger, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, George Enescu, Nigel Kennedy, Augustin Hadelich, Joshua Bell,[6] and Rachel Barton Pine.

The work was premiered in Leipzig on January 1, 1879, by Joachim, who insisted on opening the concert with the Beethoven Violin Concerto,[7] written in the same key, and closing with the Brahms.

Similar criticisms have been voiced against the string concerti of other great composers, such as Beethoven's Violin Concerto[13] and Hector Berlioz's Harold in Italy, for making the soloist "almost part of the orchestra".

The third movement of the Mutter and Karajan's version is used twice in Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film There Will Be Blood, including the end credits.