This is Poulenc's last work, composed in 1962, one year before his death. Among Poulenc's works featuring the oboe, the Trio for Bassoon and Piano (FP 43), completed in 1926, is particularly well-known. The Sonata, FP 185, is the composer's only oboe sonata, and its composition had been planned since 1957. This was because, from around that time, Poulenc had been planning to compose sonatas for various woodwind instruments. Among the planned sonatas for bassoon, flute, clarinet, and oboe, those for clarinet and oboe were composed almost simultaneously.

Both works were scheduled to premiere in Chicago on April 27, 1963. However, on January 30, 1963, Poulenc died of heart failure at his home on Rue de Médicis in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Ultimately, this Oboe Sonata premiered on June 8, approximately five months after the composer's death, at the International Pierre Pierlot-Jacques Février Festival held in Strasbourg. The title page of the work's early sketches bears the dedication: 'In memory of Prokofiev.'

Like Poulenc's other sonatas, the work consists of three movements. The first movement, 'Élégie,' begins with a short oboe solo, contrasting a lyrical, tonal melody reminiscent of a song with sections characterized by piano chord attacks. The second movement, 'Scherzo,' is a fast movement in ABA form, characterized by the rapid, cascading repeated notes in both instruments. The third movement, 'Déploration' (Note: referring to a painting depicting the Virgin Mary and others lamenting Christ's death at the foot of the cross), unfolds at a leisurely tempo, similar to the first movement, interspersed with oboe solos. The oboe melody oscillates between major and minor keys, concluding without a clear resolution.