Love Me Tender was composed by Ken Darby, although credited to Elvis and Vera Matson, Darby's wife. It was based on the 1861 ballad, Aura Lee. Aura Lee , written by W. W. Fosdick and George R. Poulton, was a favourite of the Union Army during the Civil War. With new words and retitled Army Blue, it was adopted as the class song of West Point graduates in 1865. Aura Lee was sung by Frances Farmer in the 1936 movie, Come and Get It.

Elvis recorded Love Me Tender for his first film, The Reno Brothers. The film's title was later changed to take advantage of the tremendous success of the single. The recording session took place on either August 2 or September 24, 1956, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. Vita Mumolo was the guitar player heard on the record. Background vocals were provided by Chuck Prescott, John Dodson, and Red Robinson. The film version of Love Me Tender had slightly different lyrics and one extra verse. Advanced sales of the single release exceeded one million copies – the first record in history to do so.

Love Me Tender entered Billboard's Top 100 chart at #12. Over the next nine weeks, it was number one for four weeks, exchanging the top spot with Jim Lowe's The Green Door. Singing the Blues by Guy Mitchell eventually assumed the top position. Love Me Tender was #3 on the Country Best-Seller chart and #4 on the rhythm & blues chart. Probably the first cover record of Love Me Tender was by the Sparrows (Davis 456) in late 1956.

Elvis sang Love Me Tender on all three of his performances on The Ed Sullivan Show (September 9, 1956; October 28, 1956; and January 6, 1957) and on his last appearance on the Louisiana Hayride (December 16, 1956). One line of the song was sung by Elvis with Frank Sinatra in the Frank Sinatra-Times Special, Welcome Home, Elvis. Elvis sang Love Me Tender in his 1968 TV special, Elvis, and in the documentaries Elvis – That's the Way It Is (from an August 13, 1970 appearance at the International Hotel) and Elvis on Tour (from a performance in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on April 9, 1972). The film This Is Elvis showed a clip of Elvis from The Ed Sullivan Show singing Love Me Tender.

In the fall of 1978 a duet of Elvis and Linda Ronstadt singing Love Me Tender gained considerable airplay across the U.S.. Ray Quinn, program manager of radio station WCBM in Baltimore, dubbed together Elvis's 1956 single and Ronstadt's 1978 version from her album Living in the U.S.A. Although demand for the tape grew, no copies were made available to the public. A three-dollar bootleg single was made, however, on the Duet Label (Duet 101). The duet was inspired by the Barbra Streisand-Neil Diamond's duet You Don't Bring Me Flowers.

Love Me Tender was the first song by Elvis that Priscilla Beaulieu ever heard. It became her favourite ballad. For Christmas 1962, Priscilla gave Elvis a musical cigarette case that played Love Me Tender.