This glorious-sounding choral song premiered on December 13, 1896. Only its brevity and the fact that its text is in the Finnish language (unfamiliar to most choruses) are obvious as reasons that it has not gained worldwide popularity.

Despite lasting only four minutes, the song, with its rhythmic inventiveness, brilliant scoring, and great uplifting spirit, creates a breath-taking portrait of youth and impulsiveness. It is probably the most convincing brief musical portrait of a legendary hero since the death of Richard Wagner during the previous decade, possessing a similar energy and drive to the older composer's Siegfried's Rhine Journey, and a sound not far distant from it.

The text was by a young poet, Yrjö Weijola (1875 - 1930). Written while Weijola was still a student, the poem was inspired by the figure of Lemminkäinen, the brashest and most impulsive of the heroes of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The entry of the Kalevala into Finnish national consciousness had occurred in the middle part of the nineteenth century when the poem Elias Lönnrot (1802 - 1884) translated the ancient runic writing that preserved its ancient oral tradition.

Lönnrot's translation helped serve to awaken Finnish nationalism, particularly when it became a major part of the curriculum of the first Finnish language schools, which did not open until the 1870s. Sibelius, from a Swedish-speaking family, did not know Finnish until he attended the first of these schools, providentially located in his hometown. In the process of learning Finnish he fell under the spell of this epic, which inspired several of his works.

One of them is the set of four tone poems collectively known as the "Four Legends," "Lemminkäinen Symphony," or "Legends of Lemminkäinen." These were premiered on April 13, 1896. Sibelius, who was very self-critical and habitually revised and polished his works after their first performance, set to work revising the Legends. Eventually he banned then (aside from permitting their performance at a commemorative concert) but they became well-known after his death.

Some music of this song is found in the original version final movement of the Legends, Lemminkäinen's Journey Homeward (Lemminkäisen poluu kotitiienoille), but was excised by the time the revised version was performed. It is not known whether the song was composed during the work on the Legends, or whether Sibelius took the fanfares and the melody from the suite for use in the song, whose original title was Lemminkäinen's Song (Lemminkäisen laulu).

The text of the song is about Lemminkäinen departing to meet his love. The music is full of ardor and irrepressible spirit, and sounds as if it could have been an excerpt from a late-Romantic opera.

Later Sibelius published A Song for Lemminkäinen as the first of Three Songs for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 31. However, this grouping is merely one of convenience; though they make a convincing set, the three items in this opus number were all written separately as independent pieces.

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