Bax completed the Quintet for Harp and Strings in 1919, but its first performance did not occur until February 1921. Written about a year after the First Quartet, the score is dedicated to Raymond Jerry, violist for the Philharmonic Quartet, the ensemble that gave the premieres of both the First Quartet and the Harp Quintet, the latter with harpist Gwendolen Mason.

Bax once described himself as "a brazen Romantic—by that I mean [he added] that my music is the expression of emotional states. I have no interest whatever in sound for its own sake or in any modernist 'isms' or factions." In the Quintet for Harp and Strings, Bax's musical stance is clear in both the music and the expressive markings such as "veiled and mysterious." The harp was one of Bax's favorite instruments to use in chamber works, and his writing for it is usually demanding. As in other Bax works for harp, the quality of sound is the most striking feature.

In a single, compact movement that requires about 12 minutes to perform, the Quintet for Harp and Strings has the formal sections of sonata form. Its straightforward structure, however, disguises complexities of texture and harmony. Bax's harmonic idiom is diatonic, with chromaticism acting chiefly as a decorative element and providing the "Romantic" edge we hear in most of his music. Harmonic variation is the driving force in the work, especially in the development section, although melodic figurations evolve constantly. The themes are broad, singing, and expansive, while harmonies are used as much for their individual sonorities as for structural direction.

Compositional economy and thematic transformation mark the Quintet. The first four notes of the first theme are incorporated into the second and act as a recurring motive. The exposition takes up the greater portion of the piece and contains the dramatic climax of the work, marked Molto vivace, when the harp steps into the foreground as the strings play tremolando, creating an effect of symphonic grandeur. Quite a different effect results during the passage marked "veiled and mysterious," which ushers in the recapitulation with muted strings supporting the harp, which occasionally has harmonics.

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