The lyrics depict the plucking of the feathers of a lark bird. The song’s chorus is: “Alouette, gentille alouette, alouette je te plumerai” (lark, nice lark, lark I will pluck your feathers).
For each verse, an additional body part gets added (head, wings, back and tail), somewhat similar to the English kids song, “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes”.