[1] Born in Aarau, Wehrli had a solid musical education, which he acquired in Zurich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Basel.
His time in Frankfurt - where Wehrli studied as a fellow student of Paul Hindemith after winning the Frankfurt Mozart Prize in 1914, and where he met his future wife, the singer Irma Bartholomae - was of particular influence on his musical development.
In 1918 Wehrli took up a position as a music teacher at the Aargauischen Lehrerinnenseminar (today Neue Kantonsschule Aarau [de]) and held it until his death in 1944.
[2] Since the twenties his reputation has grown steadily, which was expressed in performances of his song cycles and chamber music works at the annual Tonkünstlerfests, in performances of his stage works and repeated commissions for highly esteemed Festspiel [de] music.
Wehrli's musical work mediates between late Romanticism [de] and modern, whereby it is characterized by an unusual variety of expressive attitudes.