A semiconductor light emitting device has an active layer of a gallium nitride compound semiconductor material, a first semiconductor layer of Inx1Aly1Ga1−x1−y1N (0≦x1≦1, 0≦y1≦1), on a p-layer side of the active layer, and which is subjected to tensile strain, a second semiconductor layer of Inx2Aly2Ga1−x2−y2N, wherein (0≦x2≦1, 0 ≦y2≦1), and which has a bandgap energy smaller than the bandgap energy of the first semiconductor layer, and a third semiconductor layer between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, of Inx3Aly3Ga1−x3−y3N, wherein (0≦x3≦1, 0≦y3≦1), and which has a bandgap energy smaller than the bandgap energy of the first semiconductor layer and larger than the bandgap energy of the second semiconductor layer.