The work was originally submitted under the title of "Urbs Roma" (the city of rome) for a competition in Bordeaux. The competition, which Saint-Saëns won, was intended as a starting point for young composers .The composer did not leave a program or other description that indicates how the music related to its title.[2]
The work was buried by Saint-Saëns, who never published it during his lifetime and left it out of his own catalogue. This resulted in the work never receiving an opus number.[2][3]
The work opens in a slow, somber tone before transitioning to an allegro section. The first movement is constructed unusually, moving twice between Largo and Allegro. This is similar to the construction of Symphony in D Minor by César Franck that was composed 30 years later. The second movement is a scherzo that resembles a spring round dance. The third movement is a funeral march that is described as a "funeral march for the death of an Empire". The final movement is a theme and variations that takes a nostalgic tone and fluctuates between meters.[5][6][7]
Symphony in F major is the longest of Saint-Saëns's symphonies, with a total runtime of 40 minutes.[1][4]