The first edition of The Road Goes Ever On appeared on the 31st of October 1967 in the United States. Caedmon Records released the initial audio recording under catalog number TC 1231 on the 12th of June 1967.
Donald Swann, an entertainer by trade, composed the music for this collection while J.R.R. Tolkien provided the words from his Middle-earth writings. Richard Leonberger notes that Swann spent twelve years composing these nine settings starting in Ramallah near Jerusalem during 1965.
The original 1967 release featured ten tracks across two sides of an LP record with Side one containing Tolkien reading six poems from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. William Elvin sang on side two alongside Swann playing piano including main sequence songs like In the Willow-meads of Tasarinan set in D minor.
Bilbo's Last Song entered the second edition published in 1978 after being given to Margaret Joy Hill following Tolkien died. A third edition followed in 1993 introducing Lúthien Tinúviel from The Silmarillion which sits in an appendix rather than the main cycle.
Sheet music occupies pages 1 through 62 and pages 78 through 84 in the 2002 edition of the book. Pages 63 through 76 of the 2002 edition contain Tolkien's notes and translations of two Elvish poems.