She was born Tania Justina León in Havana, Cuba, of mixed French, Spanish, Chinese, African, and Cuban heritage.

Staged and designed by Robert Wilson with León conducting, it has received over 22 performances in Germany, Switzerland, France and Mexico.

León's composition Horizons, written for the NDR Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg, premiered at the July 1999 Hammoniale Festival, with Peter Ruzicka conducting.

[5] León's recorded works include Batá, by the Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Snell and produced by Sir George Martin; Indígena, a collection of León's chamber music; Carabalí (and already Batá) on the Louisville Orchestra’s First Edition Records; Rituál, for solo piano, and her arrangement of Moises Simons' song "El Manisero" for Chanticleer.

Tania León used award-winning Cuban-American poet Carlos Pintado’s poems to create Rimas Tropicales with a World premiere in June 2011 by one of the world's most respected vocal ensembles: the 5 times Grammy Award-winning group the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

She has received honorary doctorates from Colgate University, Oberlin College, and Columbia University,[6] and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, NYSCA, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, ASCAP, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and Meet the Composer, among others.

She won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Stride, making her the first African-American woman composer to win the award.

[9] In 2022, Tania was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor along with George Clooney, Amy Grant, Gladys Knight and the members of U2.