Few details of Couperin’s early life are known. His early musical instruction likely came from his father. When his father died, the ten-year-old François went to study with the royal organist Jacques Thomelin, and possibly with Lalande, his father’s successor at St. Gervais. In 1685 François assumed Lalande’s post at St. Gervais, though he did not receive a full contract of duty until 1689. In 1689 he married Marie-Anne Ansault, who bore him two daughters, Marie-Madeleine (b. 1690) and Marguerite-Antoinette (b. 1705), as well as two sons, Nicolas-Louis (b. 1707) and François-Laurent (b. before 1708).

Within the first year of their marriage, François published a collection of organ masses entitled "Pièces d’orgue." This led, in 1693, to his appointment by Louis XIV as his ‘choice’ organist. He then took up the position as harpsichord teacher for the royal children and the Duke of Burgundy. During this time he composed and published a variety of sonatas set in both French and Italian style. He used these sonatas to demonstrate his ability to compose in the various popular styles of the day. In 1696 he acquired his own coat-of-arms, and in 1702 he was made Chevalier de l’Ordre de Latran. He continued to compose not only court music, but sacred and chamber music, motets, and harpsichord works.

Couperin was often referred to by his contemporaries as, "Le Grand ". But even with his royal duties, he continued to give what time he had to St. Gervais. In 1716 he published a treatise, "L’art de toucher le clavecin". In 1730 Couperin retired from all his positions and died on September 12, 1733. Many of his unfinished works were entrusted to his family to complete; however, none were completed. As a result, none of those works remain today; only those that he published during his lifetime exist. Little is known of François Couperin as a person. No correspondence to his family or contemporaries remains. Yet he was known as a man of confidence, intelligence and sensitivity. Both Debussy and Ravel acknowledge Couperin as the epitome of the spirit of French art. He was simple, refined, expressive, and undeniably one of the greatest masters of the Baroque.

Couperin’s Concerto for Two Harpsichords harks back to an honored tradition of dance music, a tradition associated with music written for the bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy. Numerous stage productions of this period feature "musetes" complete with singing, dancing and orchestra enhanced by specialized instruments. With his "Musetes de Choisi et de Taverni", Couperin reaches back to an element of French folk music from the towns of Choisi and Taverny, and transforms it into elegant chamber music for the court of Louis XIV.