The train was named after the play L'Oiseau Bleu as a tribute to its author, the Belgian Nobel Prize laureate Maurice Maeterlinck.

[1] The Oiseau Bleu started as a luxury train operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits as their second Pullman service between Belgium and France.

[2] Timetable of 1929:[3] Due to good loading figures the service was extended to Amsterdam on 15 May 1935,[4] making the Oiseau Bleu the "mirror" of the Étoile du Nord.

However, by at least 1949, the through coaches to points north of Brussels had been discontinued and the Oiseau Bleu – also called the Blue Bird Express during that era – was again running only Brussels–Paris and return, with first- and second-class Pullman cars.

Until 31 May 1964 the Oiseau Bleu was part of the joint Dutch–Swiss TEE service provided by RAm-type diesel multiple unit trainsets.