Tchaikovsky's "symphonies" No. 1 in G minor, op. 13, Winter Daydreams (1866) No. 2 in C minor, op. 17, Little Russian (1872) No. 3 in D major, op. 29, Polish (1875) No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 (1877–1878) Manfred Symphony, B minor, op. 58 (1885) No. 5 in E minor, op. 64 (1888) No. 6 in B minor, op. 74, ''Pathetique'' (1893) Tchaikovsky also wrote four orchestral suites between 1878 and 1885. He supposedly intended to call one or more of these 'symphony' but did not. The four suites are symphonic in character nonetheless. They are: No. 1 in D Major, Op.43 No. 2 in C Major, Op.53 No. 3 in G Major, Op.55 No. 4 in G Major, Op.61 "Mozartiana" There are two versions of a Symphony No. 7 in existence. One was "reconstructed" by Soviet composer Semyon Bogatyryev in 1956 from Tchaikovsky's sketches. It is in E flat minor and was first performed in 1957. The first movement of this symphony-that-wasn't was converted by Tchaikovsky into his one-movement Piano Concerto No. 3. The other "Symphony No. 7" is the work of a computer program called TCHAIKOVSKY, the brainchild of Peter Michovsky, a Russian-born composer, computer geek and music scholar. This program "composed" a seventh Tchaikovsky "symphony" a few years ago, using the final themes of the real Symphony No. 6 as a starting point.

Tchaikovsky started work on a sixth symphony in E-flat major, but soon became dissatisfied with it and set it aside, to be used later in what became the one-movement 3rd Piano Concerto. He then wrote his real Symphony #6 in b minor, which his brother Modeste named the "Pathetique." He wrote that he was prouder of this symphony than of anything else he'd written. Bogatyryev used the 3rd Piano Concerto and other pieces by Tchaikovsky when he crafted his "Symphony #7." There was a recording of this concoction by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra that showed the piece to be third-rate Tchaikovsky at best. Piotr Ilyich usually knew what he was doing; he was right to abandon the Eb Major symphony.