France has also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990, and Amina in 1991 (who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break).

[4] Jonatan Cerrada's song "Laissez-moi le temps", written by Shayane, was presented to the public on 11 February 2004 during a concert which was held at the L'Olympia in Paris.

On 22 February 2004, France Télévisions announced that "Laissez-moi le temps" would be replaced as they did not find the song strong enough for the contest.

[5][6] The replacement song "À chaque pas", written by Ben "Jammin" Robbins, Steve Balsamo and Jonatan Cerrada and containing lyrics in a bilingual mix of French and Spanish, was previewed online on 10 March 2004 and formally presented to the public on 22 March 2004 during the France 3 programme Symphonic Show, hosted by Évelyne Thomas.

According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final.

[13] Jonatan Cerrada was also joined on stage by four backing vocalists: Elisabet Baile, Labila Mokedem, Caroline Pascaud and Michel Cerroni.

[14] France Télévisions appointed Alex Taylor as its spokesperson to announced the results of the French televote during the final.