Witnessing early habitation in what is now Wahlenau is a group of Iron Age barrows in District 5 in the municipal forest.

Roman potsherds have also been found on the Via Ausonia (or Ausoniusstraße in German), which forms the southern municipal limit.

According to a document from King Albrecht dated 27 October 1301, Count Johann II of Sponheim-Kreuznach held the Sohren Imperial fief, to which Wahlenau also belonged.

[1] The German blazon reads: Gespalten durch eingeschweifte, erniedrigte blau-golden geschachte Spitze, vorn in grün zwei verschlungene silberne Ringe, pfahlweis, hinten in gold ein rot bewehrter schwarzer Adler.

The charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is the Imperial Eagle, held to refer to the time when Wahlenau was an Imperial estate, part of the Pflege (literally "care", but in this context taken to mean "administrative area") of Sohren, which in 1301 King Albrecht gave to the Counts of Sponheim, who themselves are represented in the arms by the “chequy” base.