His reviews for the Parisian paper Le Temps combined conservatism and wit; among his principal targets was the composer Maurice Ravel, whose music Lalo disparaged throughout his career.
[4] Collections of his articles were published in volume form in 1920 (La musique: 1898–1899), 1933 (Richard Wagner ou le Nibelung), and posthumously in 1947 (De Rameau à Ravel: portraits et souvenirs).
[4] Lalo's writing is described by Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians as characterised by "conservatism, wit, astuteness and a linguistic finesse which occasionally turned to virulence.
Although a friend and trusted adviser of Ravel's teacher Fauré,[5] Lalo gave poor notices to the young composer's early works, and continued to disparage him throughout his career.
[3] Lalo was a member of the governing body of the Paris Conservatoire during Fauré's directorship,[9] and later served on the board of the national broadcasting station Radiodiffusion.