He was born in L'Isle-Jourdain, but apart from his military service during World War I, spent his entire career in Toulouse where he was a member of the Académie des Jeux floraux and the editor-in-chief of L'Express du Midi for many years.

Praviel himself was a member of the Societé de Patronage des Libérés in Toulouse which advocated for the support and rehabilitation of ex-convicts and child criminals.

However, from his early youth Praviel's primary interests were literary ones, and his decision to forsake the law for a career as a writer, although encouraged by his mother, ultimately led to an estrangement from his father.

He was at the center of Le Caousou's theatrical life, putting on plays during the school holidays and serving as the stage director and set designer as well as one of the actors.

In 1895 he started a small theatre troupe called Societé de Saint-Genest which gave performances in the salons of Toulouse, and throughout his life he was considered a gifted amateur actor.

[3][4] In 1897 Praviel founded L'Âme latine, a bi-monthly journal devoted to literature and poetry whose circle included the young poets and intellectuals Emmanuel Delbousquet, Pierre Fons, Joseph de Bonne[a], and Marc Lafargue[b].

[c][9][10] By 1907 Praviel was the editor-in-chief of L'Express du Midi in Toulouse and continued to write for that paper and its successor La Garonne for the next thirty years.