Inspired by the famous series of concerts given during World War II by Dame Myra Hess at the National Gallery and the Royal Exchange, City Music Society was founded in 1943 by the late Ivan Sutton and is one of the country's leading music societies. The Society presents around 20 concerts per year and has 2,424 lunchtime and early evening concerts to its credit. It celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2018-19 with three special cocnerts.

In addition to featuring well-established musicians, it has always been the Society's policy to invite out-standing young professional artists who are at the beginning of their careers, many of whom have since attained international status. From January to March 2004 the Society presented a new series of lunchtime concerts running parallel with the series at Bishopsgate on Tuesdays. The Free Winter Series was discontinued in 2017 following the demise of The City of London Festival. The Society now concentrates on offering young musicians concert opportunities while occasionally organizing evening events involving more established artists.

Members of the Society are more than just passive listeners. Over the years the Society has commissioned many new works - on average one every three years - from a wide and diverse range of British composers, including Roger Smalley, Nicholas Maw, Diana Burrell, Richard Rodney Bennett, Elizabeth Maconchy, Phyllis Tate, Robin Holloway, John McCabe, Geoffrey Burgon, Peter-Paul Nash, Kevin Volans and Michael Berkeley.

For its 2,000th lunchtime concert on 10th February 2022 the Society commissioned a new string quartet from Adam Kornas.