Songs of Forgotten Trees is inspired by the personal experience of director Anuparna Roy. In Indian society where caste system is very rigid, the director was forced to part way with her childhood friend by her father because of their difference in social class. The lost friendship remained etched in the director's mind and prompted her to depict the circumstances and friendship of females from two distinct background in her debut feature film.

Most of the scenes were shot in the same housing unit, hoping to encapsulate the most intimate, authentic daily life of the two characters in the apartment. Director, actors and the crew leave in the same apartment for almost three months, the team also had extensive rehearsals there. The director shared that they might be evited once people discover they were shooting inside, therefore sharing the accommodation was a strategy to finish the shooting swiftly.

The film centres around the relationship between the two females, Roy also deliberately added in the presence of male characters in some scenes, demonstrating that whenever a man with prejudice intervenes in the women's conversation, he would interrupt their emotional exchange. Their life and choices shall require no interference from men.