The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is frequently called Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic masterpiece; score and libretto combine to make the most emotionally engrossing of his works for the stage. Because of its mystical elements, some have compared it to Mozart's The Magic Flute, Wagner's Parsifal, and Messiaen's St. Francis of Assisi.

Vladimir Bielski, the librettist, worked closely with the composer on a number of other operas, including Sadko and The Golden Cockerel. For Legend, Bielski actually combined two medieval Russian legends into one the libretto: the folktale of the City of Kitezh, with its fascinating, yet gruesome clash between Russian and "oriental" cultures, and lore concerning St. Fevroniya. He bound the legends together by scripting a love affair between the maiden Fevroniya and the young prince who leads the army of Kitezh into battle against the invading Tartars. Both sources reach deeply into the mystic Russian imagination and powerfully combine Russian Orthodox Christianity, ecstatic mysticism, contemplative traditions, and pantheism. The latter had particular appeal to the composer, who vacillated between a rationalist agnosticism (veering towards atheism) and pagan nature worship. In Fevronias' universal love of man and nature, one can see a Christianizing of paganism. Her qualities are consonant with ethics espoused by a contemporary of the opera's author's, Tolstoy: pursuit of harmony between mankind and nature, aspiration to regain childhood purity, and non-violent resistance to evil. Stylized use of Russian, forms of Church Slavonic, and phraseology from ancient and archaic ballads only add to the literary accomplishment of Bielski's libretto.

Musically the score more than matches the libretto. Not surprisingly for a Russian opera, the chorus plays a prominent role. As it is by Rimsky-Korsakov, one is also not surprised that the orchestra also plays an important part, and the orchestration is typically colorful. A factor that sets it apart from other contemporary Russian operas, even by this composer, is the exceptional balance between symphonic invention and vocal expression. Certain Wagnerian elements inform the score, especially the use of leitmotifs and the through-composed form (despite the occasional seemingly closed number). The composer's predilection for deriving many motifs from one theme (for example, the bells theme, from which are derived motifs associated with both the threat to and salvation of Kitezh) is on display here, along with what some commentators have termed "leit-tonalities"—a precise use of key to connote various dramatic ideas. Harmonically, the opera is more diatonic and simple than Rimsky-Korsakov's other operas of the period, but there is still sufficient use of his beloved artificial modes (though the whole-tone scale appears infrequently), particularly in connection with the Tartars.

The premiere, on February 7, 1907, at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, was a great success. The forces needed to mount the opera were not only collectively sympathetic, but also sufficiently skilled and prepared. Libretto and score found an affinity with the audience. In fact, contemporary commentators saw the opera as a significant cultural event, even perceptively comparing it to the works of Tolstoy.

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