The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California. At the time, there were 12 categories, some of them divided by genre. Instead of having just one category for Best Picture, there was an award for Outstanding Picture and one for Best Unique and Artistic Picture. William Wellman's "Wings" won Outstanding Picture, and many consider that film to be the equivalent of 1929's Best Picture. The artwork, however, went to FW Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Men. and that historically should count at least as much as "Wings."

The first Oscars also had two categories for directing (one for comedies and one for dramas) and three categories for writing (for original screenplays, adapted screenplays and title writing). A lot has changed in the last 95 years of Oscar history.

However, no category has undergone more name changes and changes than Best Original Score. There are so many ways to define and categorize non-diegetic film scores that the Academy has tripped over its own feet trying to keep up. For many years, the Academy separated scoring categories for musicals and non-musicals, and sometimes they distinguished between adapted scores (taken from stage productions, for example) and entirely original scores.

This is due to Hollywood's hot-and-cold relationship with musicals. Live musicals were more common in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Academy wanted to award films accordingly. However, as musicals became less common, certain categories could not be filled, prompting the Academy to pivot and either rename the category or simply drop one.

In 2000, the Academy launched a category called Best Original Musical to replace the then-retired category for Best Original Musical or Comedy. However, because the Academy of Modern Musicals' eligibility requirements are so strict, no film has been nominated in the category for 25 years.