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Washington University admitted its first undergraduates in 1857 and awarded its first undergraduate degrees in 1862. The first commencement ceremony, held June 20, 1862, consisted of a public address by all five members of the graduating class, and an address to the graduating class by Chancellor William Chauvenet. Student addresses, usually in Latin or Greek, were the norm for commencement ceremonies at this time. The tradition of having every member of the class speak lasted until approximately 1880. From approximately 1881 until 1905, speeches were given by selected members of the class, with fewer of these speeches being given in Latin or Greek as time went on. Beginning in 1905, commencement took on the form similar to today's ceremony.

The first commencement ceremony on the Hilltop Campus took place in June 1905. The formal dedication of the Hilltop Campus took place at the same ceremony. Commencement speakers from 1905-1939 were:

• June 15, 1905: David Rowland Francis
• June 20, 1907: James Bryce
• June 18, 1908: Rabbi Leon Harrison
• June 8, 1911: Charles Nagel
• June 13, 1912: Rev. Thomas Lamb Eliot
• June 12, 1913: Paul Elmer More, Aspects of Reaction
• June 11, 1914: Rev. William C. Bitting, Education and Daily Life
• June 10, 1915: Rev. John Haynes Holmes
• June 8, 1916: Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle
• June 14, 1917: Herbert Lockwood Willett, The University and the Nation
• June 10, 1920: Walter Miller
• June 8, 1922: Daniel John Cowling, The Place of Liberal Arts Ideals in American Education
• June 14, 1923: James Augustin Emery, Educated Men and Public Affairs
• June 12, 1924: Henry Smith Pritchett, Our Present Day Ideal of Civil Liberty
• June 9, 1925: Robert Ernest Vinson, A Chapter of the Controversy
• June 7, 1927: Charles Gates Dawes, The New Diplomacy
• June 5, 1928: Rev. Christopher Rhodes Eliot, Adventures in Idealism
• June 11, 1929: John Carleton Jones, The Reserves of the Educated Man
• June 10, 1930: John Duncan Ernst Spaeth, Science and Humanism in University Education
• June 9, 1931: Shailer Mathews, The Administration of Optimism
• June 7, 1932: Rev. William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., A Free University in a Free State
• June 6, 1933: Charles Nagel, Robert S. Brookings
• June 12, 1934: Percival Chubb, The Summons to a New Idealism
• June 11, 1935: Guy Stanton Ford, Protecting an Investment
• June 9, 1936: Otto Heller
• June 8, 1937: Karl Morgan Block, College and Character
• June 7, 1938: Martin Hill Ittner, The Function of Technology in Modern Society
• June 6, 1939: Gordon Jennings Laing, A Liberal Education

Commencement speakers, 1940-1990
Commencement speakers, 1991-present