We define a new induction algorithm for k-interval exchange transformations associated to the “symmetric” permutation i ↦ k − i + 1. Acting as a multi-dimensional continued fraction algorithm, it defines a sequence of generalized partial quotients given by an infinite path in a graph whose vertices, or states, are certain trees we call trees of relations. This induction is self-dual for the duality between the usual Rauzy induction and the da Rocha induction. We use it to describe those words obtained by coding orbits of points under a symmetric interval exchange, in terms of the generalized partial quotients associated with the vector of lengths of the k intervals. As a consequence, we improve a bound of Boshernitzan in a generalization of the three-distances theorem for rotations. However, a variant of our algorithm, applied to a class of interval exchange transformations with a different permutation, shows that the former bound is optimal outside the hyperelliptic class of permutations.