The Michigan Music Theory Society was organized by doctoral students in the 1970s as a forum for research collaboration and friendly critique. Shortly thereafter, the group founded In Theory Only, a refereed journal intended to promote the scholarship of Michigan students, as well as other young (and sometimes not so young) music researchers.

Production of In Theory Only shifted to another institution some years later, but the general aims and function of the soceity remain the same. It is still run entirely by graduate students in the Music Theory Ph.D program (some on the Composition and Music Theory Ph.D. track), and attempts to provide emerging musicians with a forum for their research.