I will post again once checked, cause I am not sure, but in the A340 history winds are very useful. The FMS records winds when you are in descent below FL250. Those are history winds. Winds during the descent at FL250/150/050 (levels is what I need to check). Then if your next TO it does not take too long from the arr you will have actual winds, not forecasted, until that level. So it is useful for the calculations until TOC. After that you must introduce the wind forecasted at your cruise FL. Once the plane reaches the first wpt at cruise if you have not introduced the wind at that level the fms will assume the actual wind at that wpt for the rest of the route, updating on every wpt.
We use the history winds and download the cruise/dsc winds from the acars.