Bax began the First Violin Sonata in the emotional aftermath of an unsuccessful flirtation with a Russian woman, whom Bax referred to as Loubya Korolenko, but whose real name was Natalia Skarginski. Bax apparently sublimated his passion into the sonata, although he never said this directly. However, after a performance with a female violinist in the 1920s Bax remarked, "I am not sure that middle-aged and unquestionably virtuous virgins ought to play my music."

Bax's original manuscript of the Violin Sonata No. 1 is dated August 2, 1910. Disappointed with the second and third movement, only the first movement of this version was performed during Bax's lifetime, on June 18, 1914, in London's Steinway Hall, and it was never published. A revised version was completed by March 1915 with new second and third movements and was first performed in Queen's Hall, London, on November 22, 1920, by Paul Kochanski with Bax at the piano and was published by Murdoch in 1921. Bax later made cuts in the outer movements and altered the dynamic markings of the piece, which was published by Chappell in 1946.

After hearing a performance of the sonata in 1912, Bax remarked, "I was very pleased with my sonata. It did not sound at all like anything else and I realized, for the first time, that my harmonic scheme is unlike that of other composers...." Most likely the composer was referring to the chromatic aspects of his harmonic palette resulting from the combination of different folk song modes—the raised fourth scale degree of the Lydian mode and the lowered seventh of the Mixolydian.

In E major, the first movement, as published, is essentially that of 1910 and is marked "Moderato tempo: Idyllic and Serene." An intense, two-measure "motto" theme dominates the first movement and also appears in the second and third, tethering the movements to one another. Some passages of this sensuous movement, such as the ethereal pianissimo in the coda, resemble the more atmospheric moments of Bax's contemporaneous tone poem for orchestra, In the Faery Hills.

Vitality pervades the second movement, a lively scherzo marked "Allegro vivace—poco più lento." In the Classical-era manner, the trio provides a moment of repose, but in this case it closes with a reference to the "motto" of the first movement.

Bax headed the manuscript of the third movement with a poem by W.B. Yeats: "A pity beyond all telling is / Hid in the heart of love." It seems the composer's initial inspiration lingered through to the revisions. Marked "Moderato tempo: Smooth and Serene" and with a plaintive melody, the movement traces the superficial outlines of sonata form. However, much of the development is infused with first movement material and, as the movement fades quietly, the "motto" theme returns, peacefully, in the first violin. Bax later used the main theme of the third movement in the "strife" section of his Symphonic Variations.

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