In 1888, Sauvage's family moved to Provence, where she subsequently grew up in Digne-les-Bains alongside her younger sister, Germaine, and brother, André.

Following the outbreak of World War I and Pierre Messiaen's being called to serve as an interpreter for the British forces, Sauvage moved to Grenoble and lived there until autumn 1918.

Her health deteriorated and on 26 August 1927, Sauvage died of tuberculosis at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris in the presence of her sons and husband.

Family friend and fellow writer Henri Pourrat dedicated a work to Sauvage, titled La Veillée de novembre (1937).

Marchal noted that Pierre Messiaen heavily edited portions of these manuscripts for publication in his 1929 Œuvres de Cécile Sauvage.

Marchal's 2009 volume reflects a more complete picture of Sauvage's work and transcribes the love poems in their surviving entirety.

Sauvage's surviving manuscripts and letters are now at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, where they are catalogued under the "Archives privées" of the Fonds Olivier Messiaen et Yvonne Loriod.