A flute orchestra is comprised of flutes of various sizes which cover the range of a string chamber orchestra. It allows flutists an opportunity to play different and unique parts of a harmonic texture which would not be possible with just C flutes.
Some works the flute orchestra performs are transcriptions from the standard orchestra literature, some are orchestrations of other performance forms like string quartets, with the growing availability and accessibility of the larger flutes, more and more works are being written specifically for the flute choir and/or flute orchestra.