Carlos Chávez was raised in Popotla, Mexico, in an influential family. He wrote Sinfonía India, the only nationalistic work among his symphonies. The title of the symphony may lead one to think of the country of India in South Asia and its musical traditions, instead however, it refers to Indigenous Mexican communities. The term “India” or "Indian” is a term used by colonizers to refer to native populations. If a symphony like this was written today, perhaps it would have carried a different name to convey a better meaning of ancient societies in the territory, way before the so-called “discovery” of America. This piece features authentic Mexican Indigenous themes as well as rhythms and scales drawn from what has remained of ancient Indigenous music in Mexico.

The architectural design of the work closely resembles sonata form, but there is no central development section. The work is a one-movement composition of eleven minutes duration. The introduction is rhythmically charged with constant eight notes in frequently changing meters of 5/8, 3/8 and 2/4. A triumphant call in the trumpet completes the pentatonic melody started by the horn over the busy rhythmic background. A brief transition, introducing light percussion, leads to the principal theme section, a vigorous, jerky theme from the Cora Indigenous rekindles the rhythmic vitality. Development of material in this symphony takes the form of thematic repetition with varied texture and orchestration in accompaniment. The recapitulation is normal in terms of the order of the principal and subordinate theme sections. The finale is a frenetic one in F major, based on a Seri Indigenous tune, as a capstone to the entire work.

– Juan-David Domínguez-Rincón