Writing for AllMusic, music critic Thom Jurek wrote of the album, "This is a tough recording; it flies in the face of the conventions Evans himself has set, and yet retrains [sic] the deep, nearly profound lyricism that was the pianist's trademark."[2] On All About Jazz, C. Michael Bailey said, "After the ballad-laden Moon Beams, producer Orrin Keepnews wanted a slightly more up-tempo recording that resulted in How My Heart Sings. Fifty years later, the recording remains painfully introspective, up-tempo or not. Evans was the Van Gogh of jazz: sensile and troubled, characteristics that expressed themselves in his playing his entire career."[4]