Silver-colored flutes may either be silver-plated or made of nickel-silver or solid silver. Solid silver (also known as sterling silver) is silver with a purity of 92.5% and is used for both the tube and the key system.

Golden flutes are made of gold of various different purities, such as 9-carat, 14-carat, and 18-carat gold. The higher the number, the higher the percentage of gold content.

In 14-carat gold, gold, silver, and copper are blended together. Higher levels of copper give the metal a reddish hue, and higher levels of silver produce a yellowish gold. In a concert hall, red 14-carat gold really sparkles like gold.

As a musical instrument, it is important that a flute's sound be beautiful; however, for aesthetic purposes, it is also important the design and the material are also beautiful.

Flutes made out of animal bones were used in Europe in the Paleolithic era. These ancient instruments can be considered the flute ancestors. It was not until the Renaissance period that the prototype of the modern flute emerged and came into wide use.

The term "flute" was originally applied both to pipe instruments held sideways and pipe instruments held vertically. Thus, the vertically held recorder was also called a "flute." Indeed, up until around the middle of the 18th century (the era of Baroque music), the word "flute" was commonly used to describe the recorder. To distinguish the transverse flute from the recorder, it was referred to in Italian as the flauto traverso, in German as the Querflöte, and in French as the flûte traversière-all of which mean "sideways held flute."