The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, which is thought to be up to 1,000 years old, came up against 13 other trees in a public vote.
It had won England's first Tree of the Year competition in November, but lost out on Euro glory to a tree in Estonia.
Nottinghamshire County Council said it was pleased the competition gave the Major Oak such a high profile.
Source: Nottinghamshire County Council
The winning specimen, "Oak tree on a football field" in Estonia, landed 32% of the 185,000 votes cast across Europe.
The Major Oak came sixth with 9,941 votes, making it the highest placed British tree. Scotland's Lady's Tree and the Lonely Tree of Llanfyllin in Wales came ninth and tenth.
Councillor John Knight, chairman of the culture committee at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "We are very pleased the Major Oak has enjoyed a high profile throughout the competition and we hope it will encourage our European neighbours to want to visit the iconic tree in Robin Hood's county."
Jill Butler, the Woodland Trust's ancient tree expert, said: "It is clear some of our European cousins place huge cultural importance on their special trees and it's something we need to adopt in the UK too."
Source: Tree of the Year
An oak tree associated with the Robin Hood legend has lost its bid to be named the best in Europe.