Ward-Steinman studied at Florida State University and the University of Illinois, where he received the Kinley Memorial Fellowship for foreign study. After receiving his doctorate, he was a fellow at Princeton University from 1970. His teachers included John Boda, Burrill Phillips, Darius Milhaud (at Aspen, Colorado), Milton Babbitt (at Tanglewood) and Nadia Boulanger. He studied piano under Edward Kilenyi, and in 1995 attended a course at IRCAM.
From 1970 to 1972, Ward-Steinman was the Ford Foundation composer-in-residence for the Tampa Bay area of Florida and he spent 1989-90 in Australia under a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, with residencies at the Victorian Centre for the Arts and La Trobe University in Melbourne.
Ward-Steinman has received a number of commissions, most notably from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His orchestral works have been performed by a number of ensembles, including the Japan Philharmonic, New Orleans Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony. His music has been recorded on a number of labels, including Harmonia Mundi.
Ward-Steinman has written a book, Toward a Comparative Structural Theory of the Arts, and co-authored Comparative Anthology of Musical Forms.
Ward-Steinman is currently Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence at San Diego State University.