The Osage shield is covered by two symbols of peace: the calumet representing Native Americans, and the olive branch representing European Americans. Six golden brown crosses, Native American symbols for stars, are spaced on the shield. The blue field represents the first official flag flown by any Native American Nation, the Choctaw flag of the American Civil War.

In 2001, a survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) placed Oklahoma's flag 39th in design quality out of the 72 Canadian provincial, U.S. state and U.S. territory flags ranked.