Around the time he composed this work, Grieg had moved to Troldhaugen (meaning "Fairy Hill"). It was a place where a tranquil sea, like an inland sea, quietly extended at the foot of a hill. Grieg composed in a wooden hut near this cape.

Grieg undertook a violin sonata for the first time in 20 years since his Second Sonata, composed in '67, but he found this not easy. This was because his lyrical melodic ideas were too short and self-contained to be fully developed within the framework of the classical sonata form.

Nevertheless, Grieg sought to assert the possibility and legitimacy of treating his beloved folk material within the formal structures of Western art music, and to integrate himself into the Western tradition, he deliberately undertook a violin sonata centered on the sonata form, which is based on German classical music.