A finite element method (FEM) is presented for the study of nonlinear acoustic standing waves inside a chamber. The method is developed using the Galerkin–Bubnov weighted residual formulation and applied to solve the Lagrangian second-order wave equation, including thermal and viscous dissipation terms. A one-dimensional problem is studied in the frequency domain. Numerical data are compared with analytical results obtained by using a perturbation scheme for the cases of resonance and antiresonance in a rigid-walled tube with one-sided rigid or pressure release boundary condition. The FEM algorithm is shown to be well suited for the study of high-frequency standing wave fields in which the effect of absorption cannot be described by simple analytical expressions.