The first edition of the Volunteer (1897) records the colors, flower, motto, and yell each class had chosen as its own. The senior class in 1897 had chosen old gold and olive green for its colors, the Lily of the Valley as its flower, and Excelsior as its motto. Its yell was Come up Seven! Come eleven / Sixteen Seniors, ’97 / Bingelty, bangelty, jamboree / We’re the Seniors, Tennessee! Law classes and “special” classes also adopted class mottos, colors, and yells. The 1909 law class, for example, adopted a motto of Enitimur tu vincomus; did not name a color; used Golden Rod as its flower; and had as its yell Rah, rah re! / Who are we! / Senior Laws of Tennessee. / Judges, Chancellors, Squires we’ll sign / Tennessee Laws of nineteen nine. Fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations also adopted colors, flowers, and yells. The Red-Headed Club in 1914, for example, listed its motto as “Our brilliance is only exceeded by the sun.” Its flower was the red poppy, and its yell was Calcimine, carmine, vermillion-pink! / Sorrel-top, crimson-top, polkberry ink! / Herpecide, peroxide, blondine-rub! / Red-head, red-head, red-headed club! Class colors, mottos, and flowers ceased to be listed in the Volunteer after 1916.
When the Freshman Pledge Night ceremony begun in 1925 was renamed Freshman Torch Night and restructured in 1929, a system of class colors was standardized, and four sets of class colors were chosen. At Torch Night, the senior class presented the colors of the class that had graduated the preceding June to the freshman class. The four sets of class colors were purple and gold, green and white, crimson and white, and blue and silver. Class colors fell into disuse following World War II.