On June 11, 1888, a group of “Polish youth in Chicago” motivated by “a love for national song” organized the Chopin Choir, a singing society in Holy Cross Parish. One of the young immigrants, Antoni Małłek, had received an appeal from Warsaw urging the “cultivation and elevation of our native Polish song” and “the enrichment of our Polish arts by the promotion of contests for new musical compositions.” Responding to this call, these young men also began planning a national organization of Polish singing societies to embrace Polish immigrants “wherever they live.”

The President of the Organizing Committee was Stanisław Pliszka, and his associates were Franciszek Romanowski, Wojciech Kowalski, Michał Gacki, and Małłek. The Reverend Dominik Majer of Saint Adalbert's Parish in St. Paul, Minnesota, provided advice and encouragement, and the Committee dispatched appeals to “patriotic youth” in other Polish settlements to organize singing societies. At the Committee's first organizational meeting on December 4, 1888, Małłek, on Majer's advice, moved to organize a national singing society—Związek Śpiewaków Polskich w Ameryce [The Polish Singers Alliance of America— PSAA]. The members of the Organizing Committee, who all belonged to the Chopin Choir, remained the same. However, they were now joined by Milwaukee's Harmonia Choir, which was designated Choir No. 2 of the nascent Alliance. At the next meeting, on February 11, 1889, the Harmonia Choir of La Salle, Illinois, joined the initiative, receiving No. 3 as its organizational designation. Those attending the February meeting also decided to call the first convention of the Polish Singers Alliance of America, setting as the time and place May 13, 1889, at Albrecht Kowalski's Hall in Chicago.

The convention minutes do not tell us how many “patriotic youth” gathered in Chicago that May 13th, but they reveal the organizers’ enthusiasm and determination. The Convention opened with the singing of the patriotic hymn “Boże coś Polskę,” after which a congratulatory telegram from Reverend Majer was read. The delegates adopted a constitution, voted a fifty-cent initiation fee for every new member, and elected their first officers, including Konstanty Małłek [Antoni's brother] as President; Marcin Zyburtowski, Vice-President; Edward Ignacy Słupecki, Secretary, Maksymilijan Kucera, Treasurer, and Antoni Małłek as Director of Song.