Known for her agile and pure voice, Adams first became well known in France before establishing herself as one of the Metropolitan Opera's leading sopranos at the beginning of the twentieth century.

[3][4] She studied the roles of Juliette and Marguerite from Faust with Gounod himself, who greatly admired her fine technique, brilliant tone, and vocal flexibility.

[3] In the autumn of 1898, Adams joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where she sang numerous roles until 1903.

Her roles at the Met included Juliette, Marguerite, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, Micaela in Carmen, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Philine in Mignon, Berthe in Le prophète, the Forest Bird in Siegfried, Nedda in Pagliacci, Gilda in Rigoletto, Infanta in Le Cid, Inès in L'Africaine, and Mimì in La bohème, among others.

In October, 1898, Adams married Leo Stern, a British cellist, who died in 1904, so she lived abroad most of the time.