In the opening movement’s exposition there are no fewer than eight separate melodies, the first of which is presented without preamble in the rich hues of trombones, low strings, and low woodwinds in the dark colouring of G minor. This tonality soon yields to the G major of the flute melody, but much of the movement shifts effortlessly between major and minor keys. In the development the opening melody reappears in its original guise and even, surprisingly, in its original key. The recapitulation begins as this theme is played fortissimo by the trumpets in a setting greatly heightened in emotional weight. The coda is invested with the rhythm and high good spirits of an energetic country dance, bringing the movement to a rousing conclusion.
 
The second movement is one of the most original formal conceptions in late 19th-century symphonic music, consisting of two very different kinds of music. In some ways this movement points forward to the interest of certain 20th-century composers in creating a work from disparate types of composition. The works of Mahler, Ives, and Stravinsky, among others, are filled with instances of what seem to be two different pieces pushed up against each other for the dramatic effect their juxtaposition creates. In this movement, Dvorák uses two ideas that are different not just in key and melody, but in their total conception. The first is indefinite in tonality, rhythm, and cadence; its theme no more than a collection of fragments. The following section is greatly contrasted: its key is unambiguous; its rhythm and cadence points are clear; and its melody is a long, continuous span.
 
This is followed by the third movement, a lilting essay much in the style of an Austrian Ländler. Like the beginning of the Symphony, it opens in G minor with a mood of sweet melancholy, but gives way to a languid melody in G major for the central trio. Following the repeat of the scherzo, a vivacious coda in faster tempo paves the way to the last movement.
 
For the finale, Dvorák opted for what is basically a set of variations on a theme announced by the cellos, following an initial call to attention by the trumpets. The theme grows directly from the first movement’s opening flute subject, and halfway through the variations are interrupted by an episode in C minor, based on a three-note motif from the cello theme and indirectly linked with the introductory trumpet call, which is woven into the fabric and reappears triumphantly at the climax. Dvorák's conclusive working out of the simple theme, which has stayed in the ear since the opening movement, makes this one of his most successful “organic” finales.

The Eighth Symphony is the most overtly nationalistic of all Dvorák's nine symphonies, despite the fact that has sometimes been referred to as the English Symphony. The only reason for this is that the work was first published in London by Novello, when Dvorák was having one of his periodic quarrels with his German publisher, Simrock.