Neither the authorship nor the dating of this lay are known in any detail. The full story of Beren and Lúthien included their final deaths in I 503, so presumably the tale of Release from Bondage was written after that date (though its unfinished state makes even this difficult to say with certainty). A plausible origin would be the Havens of Sirion near the end of the First Age, especially as we know that Dírhavel wrote his Tale of the Children of Húrin there.

The 'bondage' being escaped in the lay is a matter of interpretation. The entire story builds to the escape of Beren and Lúthien from the fates decreed for their peoples, and this must be the larger meaning of the 'Release from Bondage'. Within the story, however, the ideas of 'escape' and 'release' return again and again. To give a few of the very many examples: Beren escapes from Taur-nu-Fuin and later Tol-in-Gaurhoth; Lúthien escapes from Hírilorn and later Nargothrond; a Silmaril is freed from Morgoth's Iron Crown; and Huan releases himself from service to Celegorm. On this level, then, it's hard to pin down a single 'release from bondage' that the title might refer to; rather it's an overarching theme within the work that recurs at larger and smaller scales.

The Silmaril recovered by Beren and Lúthien would later prove critical in allowing Eärendil to reach Aman, and thus in bringing about the downfall of Morgoth. So, from an even wider perspective, the lay represents an overture to the Release from Bondage of all the peoples of Middle-earth.