Situated 19 kilometres to the East of Épinal, Tendon lies in the valley of the Scouet, a tributary of the Vologne via the Barba.

Le Tholy is 8 km away via the Bonne Fontaine col at an elevation of 677 m. The ban of Tendon (Tandon), comprising the villages of Tendon, Houx, Laveline, Dehiex, Chamontaruz and La Poirie, belonged to the bailiwick of Remiremont under the Ancien Régime and depended on the mastery of the waters and forests Épinal.

This ended on 3 September 1707 when the bishop of Toul elevated the small Tendon chapel, which had been built 25 years earlier, into a parish.

Father Voyaux de Franoux, born in 1760, was the founder of a girls school in 1825 and a hospital in 1834 in his native village.

Educated at the collège de Saint-Claude, in Toul, he studied philosophy and theology in the Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Catholic seminary, then was sent to the Sorbonne by his bishop, where he received the grade of doctor.