He studied harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris with Émile Bienaimé and composition with Henri-Montan Berton.
In 1833, he won the first Prix de Rome with his cantata Le Contrebandier espagnol.
He lived two years at the Villa Medicis in Rome, then settled in Paris as a composer.
He wrote operas for the Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique as well as mixed choirs.
When he was a teacher of music, he used Pierre Galin's method (the Galin-Paris-Chevé system), and in 1873 wrote the foreword of the book Histoire anécdotique de la méthode Galin-Paris-Chevé.