While the original release made no specific mention, the liner notes found in the 2014 reissue of Adore, stated:

Included in the box set are two early takes of ‘For Martha,’ as the band and I paw through its complexities with flashes of dignity. I’ve included these as a rare document into how we worked together, as you can see much of the song’s timbral charts are already drawn; and what matters now is how they play out against one another to create pathos, or in this case, respect. As among the most personal of my songs I think the lyric stands for itself by way of explanation. Yet I will tell you that Martha Louise was an incredible soul, obviously. Not judging by how I turned out, mind you, for I am flawed too; but by the way she’s never left

Corgan’s farewell song to his mother received high praise universally.

One critic working for a small publication declared that the song:

Moves me to tears.

Pitchfork, a much larger outfit, called the song

a tender tribute to his mother

The Ringer called the guitar solo jolting:

An austere but startling guitar solo, one of the record’s few. (A shame, given that Corgan could be virtuous in that realm)

Spin gave praise to Corgan’s work with the vocals and on the piano:

An eight-minute tribute to Billy Corgan’s late mother, who succumbed to cancer in 1996, ‘For Martha’ endures as one of Adore’s emotional pillars. Supported by cyclical piano that swirls, builds, and recedes like a nighttime tide, the frontman bids a heartfelt and touching farewell to his parent: ‘If you have to go don’t you cry / If you have to go I will get by / Someday I’ll follow you and see you on the other side.’ The two-minute coda may be unnecessary — especially after the album’s marquee guitar solo fades and the song slows to a would-be conclusion — but the universal sentiment shared here remains affecting.

Finally, Sputnik Music showered “For Martha” with compliments of the highest kind,

Without a doubt, the crowning achievement on an album already filled to the brim with near-masterpieces. The beautiful piano is sure to give chills and the dejected nature of the lyrics only adds to this. Like all good ballads should, it ends with a soaring and upbeat guitar solo, the only real one of its kind on the album.