Published May 10, 2025 — Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online. Lyrics provided for educational purposes to support French language learning. All rights belong to the original copyright holders.
“La Valse à mille temps” (the waltz in a thousand beats) is one of Jacques Brel’s most imaginative and poetic songs. Released in 1959, the song transforms a simple waltz into a powerful metaphor for love, youth, time, and emotional intensity. As the rhythm expands from three beats to a thousand, Brel paints a dreamlike portrait of romance growing larger and deeper with the passing years. The rich imagery and sophisticated language make this song especially rewarding for intermediate and advanced French learners.
In this lesson, I’ll break down the lyrics line by line with detailed explanations to help you follow the meaning and improve your French vocabulary and grammar.
🎙️ Listen to the song
📘 Meaning in French
✏️ Lyrics and notes
🎙️ Listen to “La Valse à mille temps” by Jacques Brel
Listen to the song first and see how much French lyrics you can understand before reading the translation notes below.
📘 La Valse à mille temps meaning
“La valse à mille temps” literally means “the waltz in a thousand beats.” In the song, the ever-expanding waltz symbolizes love evolving over time — from first attraction to a deep emotional connection shaped by youth, memory, and passing years. Through poetic wordplay and musical imagery, Jacques Brel turns the dance itself into a metaphor for life, romance, and the overwhelming movement of time.
✏️ La Valse à mille temps translation and grammar notes
This section explains useful French vocabulary, expressions, and grammar structures from La valse à mille temps to help you understand how they’re used.
🎼 Song Title
La Valse à mille temps → literal translation: The waltz in a thousand beats / A waltz in a thousand times.
- Une valse means “a waltz.”
- Mille means “one thousand.”
- Temps can mean “time,” “beat,” or “rhythm” depending on context.
- The title suggests a waltz that grows endlessly larger and more emotional over time.
- The song uses the waltz as a metaphor for love, youth, and life moving forward.
🧩 Sentence Structures & Grammar
Au premier temps de la valse
👉 “At the first beat of the waltz”
- Au premier temps means “at the first beat” or “at the first moment”
- Premier/première = first; See: ordinal numbers
- Temps refers to musical timing here
- De la valse means “of the waltz”
Toute seule tu souris déjà
👉 “All alone, you are already smiling”
- Toute seule means “all alone” (feminine form)
- Souris comes from sourire (to smile)
- Déjà means “already”
Je suis seul, mais je t’aperçois
👉 “I am alone, but I catch sight of you”
- Je suis uses être (to be) in the present tense
- Je t’aperçois comes from apercevoir (to notice, glimpse)
- T’ is the shortened form of te; See: Direct object pronouns
Paris qui bat la mesure
👉 “Paris beating the rhythm”
- Battre la mesure means “to keep the beat”
- Qui introduces a relative clause
- Paris is personified throughout the song
Me murmure tout bas
👉 “Whispers softly to me”
- Murmure comes from murmurer (to whisper)
- Tout bas means “very softly” or “quietly”
Une valse à trois temps
👉 “A waltz in three beats”
- Waltzes traditionally have three beats
- À trois temps literally means “in three beats”
Qui s’offre encore le temps
👉 “Which still gives itself the time”
De s’offrir des détours du côté de l’amour
👉 “To take detours on the side of love”
- Des détours means “detours”
- Du côté de means “on the side of” or “toward”
- L’amour means “love”
Comme c’est charmant
👉 “How charming it is”
- Comme c’est… expresses admiration or emotion
- See: Comme (like, as)
- Charmant means “charming”
C’est beaucoup moins dansant
👉 “It is much less danceable”
- Beaucoup moins means “much less”
- Dansant means “danceable”
Mais tout aussi charmant
👉 “But just as charming”
- Tout aussi means “just as”
- Contrast structure using mais
Une valse à vingt ans
👉 “A waltz at twenty years old”
- Vingt ans literally means “twenty years”
- Refers symbolically to youth
C’est beaucoup plus troublant
👉 “It is much more unsettling”
- Plus means “more”
- Troublant means “disturbing,” “moving,” or “emotionally stirring”
Une valse à cent temps
👉 “A waltz in one hundred beats”
- The song progressively increases the number of beats
- Creates a feeling of expansion and emotional intensity
Une valse à cent ans
👉 “A waltz at one hundred years old”
- Cent ans means “one hundred years”
- The song moves from youth toward old age
Une valse ça s’entend
👉 “A waltz can be heard”
- Ça s’entend means “it can be heard”
- Common spoken French structure using ça
À chaque carrefour
👉 “At every crossroads”
- Chaque means “each” or “every”
- Carrefour means “crossroads” or “intersection”
Dans Paris que l’amour rafraîchit au printemps
👉 “In Paris that love refreshes in spring”
- Rafraîchit comes from rafraîchir (to refresh)
- Au printemps means “in spring”
Une valse a mis l’temps
👉 “A waltz took the time”
- Spoken contraction of le temps
- A mis uses mettre in the passé composé
De patienter vingt ans
👉 “To wait twenty years”
- Patienter means “to wait patiently”
- Vingt ans means “twenty years”
Pour que tu aies vingt ans
👉 “So that you may be twenty years old”
- Pour que triggers the subjunctive
- Aies is the subjunctive form of avoir (to have)
Et pour que j’aie vingt ans
👉 “And so that I may be twenty years old”
- J’aie is the subjunctive form of avoir
- Continues the poetic wish for youth
Offre seule aux amants trois cent trente-trois fois l’temps
👉 “Offers lovers alone three hundred thirty-three times the time”
- Aux amants means “to lovers”
- Trois cent trente-trois means “three hundred thirty-three”
- Hyperbolic poetic imagery
De bâtir un roman
👉 “To build a romance”
- Bâtir means “to build”
- Un roman can mean “a novel” or metaphorically “a love story”
Au deuxième temps de la valse
👉 “At the second beat of the waltz”
- Deuxième means “second”
- Continues the progression of the relationship
On est deux, tu es dans mes bras
👉 “There are two of us, you are in my arms”
- On est deux means “we are two”
- See: Pronoun on (we)
- Dans mes bras means “in my arms”
Nous comptons tous les deux un’, deux, trois
👉 “The two of us count one, two, three”
- Compter means “to count” or “to intend to”
- Tous les deux means “both of us”
- Reference to waltz rhythm
Nous fredonne déjà
👉 “Hums to us already”
- Fredonner means “to hum softly”
- Musical imagery continues throughout the song
Au troisième temps de la valse
👉 “At the third beat of the waltz”
- Troisième means “third”
- Symbolizes the final stage of emotional union
Nous valsons enfin tous les trois
👉 “At last, the three of us are waltzing”
- Valsons comes from valser (to waltz)
- Enfin means “finally”
Il y a toi, y a l’amour et y a moi
👉 “There is you, there is love, and there is me”
- Il y a means “there is” or “there are”
- Moi (me) and toi (you) are stressed pronouns
- Poetic listing structure
Laisse enfin éclater sa joie
👉 “Finally lets its joy burst out”
- Laisse éclater means “lets burst forth”
- Sa joie means “its joy”
🔤 Verb Forms & Tenses
- Present tense: souris, suis, aperçois, bat, murmure, est, comptons, valsons
- Passé composé: a mis
- Subjunctive present: aies, j’aie
- Present participles: dansant, troublant
- Reflexive verbs: s’offre, s’offrir
- Key infinitives: apercevoir, murmurer, battre, patienter, bâtir, valser, fredonner
💬 Idioms & Natural Expressions
- battre la mesure → to keep the beat
- tout bas → very softly
- du côté de → on the side of / toward
- tout aussi → just as
- ça s’entend → it can be heard
- à chaque carrefour → at every crossroads
- dans mes bras → in my arms
- laisser éclater sa joie → to let joy burst out
📘 Vocabulary
- la valse — waltz
- le temps — time, beat
- le sourire — smile
- l’émoi — emotion, excitement
- l’amour — love
- le détour — detour
- le carrefour — crossroads
- le printemps — spring
- les bras — arms
- la joie — joy
- le roman — novel, romance
- l’amant — lover
- la mesure — rhythm, beat
- la jeunesse — youth
- le murmure — whisper
🎶 Take your learning to the next level!
FrenchLearner offers one of the largest collections of French song lessons online. Visit the French song lyrics hub to explore classics from the 1950s to the 2000s.
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About this lesson: I create these song-based lessons to help French learners improve vocabulary, grammar, and cultural understanding in a fun, engaging way. Song lyrics are provided for educational purposes under fair use. All rights to the original works belong to their respective copyright holders.
