In Paris during the Second Empire, the composer Jacques Offenbach discovers an unknown singer, the soprano Hortense Schneider.

[2] Fresnay and Printemps had been partners in private life since 1932 when her marriage to Sacha Guitry broke up,[3] and they had worked together since Coward's Conversation Piece in April 1934 where he won excellent reviews, and their stage partnership was greatly admired.

[4] In the same year Printemps and Fresnay had a screen hit in Abel Gance's La dame aux camélias, and between then and 1951 they appeared together in eight films.

The reviewer in Sight and Sound described La Valse de Paris as "a stylised musical" and praised Fresnay's "delightful, lightly caricatured portrayal of Offenbach, and noted Printemps's "grace and waywardness and allure".

[6] Although the first screen work with the composer as principal character, Offenbach scholar Jean-Claude Yon considers the film's direction as "casual", with Achard resorting to clichés; he also finds Printemps unconvincing as Schneider, spoiling the subtilty of Fresnay personation.