In pre-modern England, the plant was known as glovewort (as it was a wort used to create a salve for sore hands), or Apollinaris (according to a legend that it was discovered by Apollo).

[10] Convallaria majalis is a herbaceous perennial plant that often forms extensive colonies by spreading underground stems called rhizomes.

It likes soils that are silty or sandy and acid to moderately alkaline,[22] with preferably a plentiful amount of humus.

[24] Convallaria majalis is used as a food plant by the larvae of some moth and butterfly (Lepidoptera) species including the grey chi.

Adults and larvae of the leaf beetle Lilioceris merdigera are also able to tolerate the cardenolides and thus feed on the leaves.

[25] Convallaria majalis is widely grown in gardens for its scented flowers and ground-covering abilities in shady locations.

[28] Roughly 38 different cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) – which are highly toxic if consumed by humans or animals – occur in the plant, including:[8][9][29] The odor of lily of the valley, specifically the ligand bourgeonal, was once thought to attract mammalian sperm.

[34][35] Because no natural aromatic extract can be produced from lily of the valley, its scent must be recreated synthetically; while Diorissimo originally achieved this with hydroxycitronellal, the European Chemicals Agency now considers it a skin sensitizer and its use has been restricted.

[36][37] Other perfumes imitating or based on the flower include Henri Robert's Muguet de Bois (1936),[38] Penhaligon's Lily of the Valley (1976),[34] and Olivia Giacobetti's En Passant (2000).

[42] Lily of the valley is worn in Helston (Cornwall, UK) on Flora Day (8 May each year, see Furry Dance) representing the coming of "the May-o" and the summer.

[44] There is a reference to "Lilly of the valley water" in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped, where it is said to be "good against the Gout", and that it "comforts the heart and strengthens the memory" and "restores speech to those that have the dumb palsey".

[50] The Neo-Latin term convallaria (coined by Carl Linnaeus) and, for example, the Swedish name liljekonvalj derives from the corresponding phrase lilium convallium in the Vulgate.