The European Tree of the Year contest originated in 2011. It was inspired by the popular Tree of the Year contest, which has been organised in the Czech Republic by the Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation for many years. The European round is a finale consisting of the winners of the national rounds.
Every year in February, the online voting for the European Tree of the Year is organised by Environmental Partnership Association (EPA). The first European voting was organized in 2011. Since then the number of countries involved in the contest has risen from 5 to 16.