We established residual chronologies of Abies nephrolepis at three altitudes in Changbai Mountain to study responses of tree growth to climate change. According to analyses of chronology characteristics and response function, we detected responses of radial growth of A. nephrolepis to climate change along the elevational gradient. The results showed that temperature is the main factor affecting tree growth at the upper limits (1760 m), by presenting significant and positive correlations between ring-width index and mean temperature in previous September and current May. At the middle distribution (1250 m), neither temperature nor precipitation significantly affected radial growth of A. nephrolepis. At the lower distributional limits (780 m), precipitation mainly affected tree growth, ring-width index was significantly and positively correlated with precipitation in previous September and October. Based on the current prediction of future climate change in Changbai Mountain, the radial growth of A. nephrolepis would benefit from changes in temperature and precipitation, promoting productivity of spruce-fir forest in the area.