One of the oldest activities on campus, the Glee Club was founded in 1883 by a group of students including Woodrow Wilson. Other well- known members of the Glee Club have been Newton Baker, Wilson's Secretary of War; Albert Shaw, editor of Review of Reviews and Governor of Puerto Rico; Albert Ritchie, Governor of Maryland; and Joseph Ames, President of the University from 1929 to 1935. The Glee Club gave its first concert on February 14, 1884.

The Glee Club, or Musical Club as it came to be known, went through many changes in structure beginning with the addition of a Banjo Club in 1888. These changes were often short-lived and are too numerous to recount in detail, but can be explained as follows: the group's popularity grew and a Mandolin Club was added in the 1890s as well as an orchestra in the early 1900s, a Hawaiian Troupe in 1927 and various trios, quartets, quintets and soloists. After World War II, only the Blue Jay Orchestra and the Glee Club existed and by the early 1950s these groups had become separate entities. In 1972, the Glee Club merged with the Goucher Chorus in order to allow newly-admitted Hopkins women a place in the group. It was not until the late 1970s that the group became an integrated coed glee club.

Traditions run strong in the Glee Club. The group customarily travels beyond Hopkins and sometimes even beyond Baltimore to give concerts. Tours to such places as Atlantic City, New York, Bermuda and even Poland have long been popular, as were concerts given at women's colleges such as Goucher and Hood before the club became coed. The group traditionally performs at Commemoration Day exercises. The Glee Club has experienced a steady decline in membership and in 1985 its name was changed to the Choral Society.