Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to semi-persistent configuration of reference signals (RSs), such as measurement reference signals (MRSs) for beam refinement. An example method generally includes transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a reference symbol (RS) configuration, wherein transmitting the RS configuration is independent of activating RS training for the UE, transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating an activation of RS training subsequent to transmitting the RS configuration, transmitting RSs to the UE periodically based on the RS configuration, and receiving, from the UE, measurement reports based on the transmitted RS.