Emil Telmanyi, with the composer at the piano, gave the premiere on February 4, 1929, at the Arts Theatre in London. Later that same year, Murdoch published the sonata with a dedication to Telmanyi.

In two movements, the Violin Sonata No. 3 is harmonically progressive. The clarity and succinctness of the first movement, marked Moderato and in 3/4 time, anticipate the same characteristics in the Fourth Piano Sonata of 1932. After the Violin Sonata No. 3 begins with augmented sonorities in the piano, the violin enters, stating and then extending a melody evocative of a Celtic song. Transformation begins after the violin plays only a few measures, as the very first few notes return with slight decoration. The hierarchy of the two instruments is clear as the piano begins spinning out accompanimental arpeggios. Fortissimo chords for the piano and aggressive scales for the violin lead to yet another varied statement of the first theme, shortly after which the tempo drops to Più lento and the piano offers a new melody, repeated by the violin at a different pitch level. Yet another idea sounds in the piano part as chords outline a stepwise melody over a rapidly rising and falling bass line. The rest of the movement develops these ideas through fragmentation, extension, and key changes until coming to rest on G major.

More aggressive than the first movement, the second, an Allegro molto in 2/4 time, opens with a leaping motive in the left hand of the piano part followed by a frenetic flourish in the right. This turns out to be the main theme. A passage for the violin alone forms a bridge to a new melody, played feroce on the violin. These themes become intermingled in the ensuing measures as the intensity increases, while pizzicato passages remind one of Bax's love of the harp. After a shift to 6/8 time, we hear a tune in the violin beginning with a "Scotch snap" and labeled, "Planxty." The direction refers to "a harp tune of a sportive and animated character, moving in triplets." This is indeed what this new, contrasting theme does as the rhythm dances along. The ferocious movement builds until its climax in the last couple of pages, marked, "Wild and extatic [sic]," closing the piece with a D minor gesture after a moment of combined D major and D minor.

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