The orchestra also started to serve as a cultural ambassador for France, with tours in Berlin and London in 1946 and in North America in 1948, the last with Charles Munch as conductor.

The first official recordings of the orchestra, with conductor Paul Kletzki, appeared in 1947 (Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, in the arrangement by Ravel, and the Boléro by the latter).

Other major pieces were played for the first time in France by the Orchestre national, and among them Wozzeck by Alban Berg (under Jascha Horenstein), and several of Anton Bruckner's and Gustav Mahler's symphonies.

[2] Cluytens was noted for his performances of the German repertoire with the orchestra, and led it during tours in the USSR (1959), at the Salzburg Festival (1959) and in the Middle East (1960).

The Maison de la Radio was opened during this time, but the orchestra continued to perform in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

In 1973, Sergiu Celibidache was recruited as premier chef invité (principal guest conductor), but he ended his contract in 1975, as a result of a conflict with some of the musicians.

An additional new permanent orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, was also created in 1976, by merging several smaller ensembles.

This allowed the Orchestre National de France to concentrate on obtaining international prestige, without a music director, but with noted guest conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Seiji Ozawa.

In 1977, Lorin Maazel became principal guest conductor (premier chef invité), and he officially became music director in 1988, holding the title until 1991.

In June 2016, Radio France announced the appointment of Emmanuel Krivine as the ONF's next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.

On the basis of these appearances, in November 2019, the ONF announced the appointment of Măcelaru as its next music director, effective 1 September 2021, with an initial contract of 4 years.