He was born to a family of magistrates and studied law in Paris (gaining his doctorate in 1898) before turning to music.

He learned piano under Élie-Miriam Delaborde and Louis Breitner, and harmony under René Lenormand.

The First World War interrupted his musical studies and career - he was wounded twice and mentioned in dispatches four times.

At the Schola Cantorum, he taught piano and (until the death of Vincent d'Indy) was one of its under-directors, and later became the co-founder and director of the Ecole César Franck (1935-962).

His wife Charlotte Sohy (1887–1955), herself a student of d'Indy, composed a symphony, melodies, four string quartets and a lyric drama in 3 acts called L'Esclave Couronnée, which adapted a novel by Selma Lagerlöf and was put on at Mulhouse on 6 May 1947.