Born at the Palace of Versailles, the third child of Louis XV of France and his queen, Marie Leszczyńska, she was known as Madame Troisième until her baptism a few weeks before her death.

Her birth was not greeted with much enthusiasm due to her gender; her father had been hoping for a son to call his Dauphin and thus have an heir to the throne.

When it was clear that a girl was born, the anticipated celebrations for the expected Dauphin were cancelled and Madame Troisième only had a mass sung in the Chapel of Versailles in her honour.

Madame Troisième was quickly baptised at Versailles and given the names of her parents Marie and the feminine form of Louis, "Louise".

Barrister Barbier noted in his memoirs that both her parents Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska were "devastated" over her death as she was the first of their children to die.