Born in Hiroshima, Japan, she graduated from Kobe University with a degree in musical performance, and began working as a video game composer in 1998.

[2] Among the composers she grew familiar with were Square employees Hitoshi Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito.

Her first score was the soundtrack to 1998's The Fallen Angels, by developer Steel Hearts, which she composed with Masaki Izutani.

She composed for two other projects over the next two years, All Star Pro-Wrestling with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Kenichiro Fukui and Blue Wing Blitz by herself.

Although she did not contribute more than one song to the multiple expansions to the game, during this period she joined The Star Onions, a band made of Square Enix composers that arranges and performs Final Fantasy XI music.

[2] She composed in 2011 music for iOS interactive storybooks, Snow White, The Ugly Duckling, and Hansel and Gretel, before founding her own independent company, Riquismo, in August 2012.

She has described the musical style for the soundtrack to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles as being based on "ancient instruments".

[11] Tanioka has performed live at several events, including 2011's Final Fantasy XI-themed VanaCon or 2021's Tokyo Game Show for the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remaster; she likes to do live performances as she feels it connects her with the listener's response to her music, unlike when composing where she can only imagine audience's responses to hearing her music.