That the French kings long used the fleur-de-lis as an emblem of their sovereignty is indisputable. On his seal of 1060, before heraldry became formalized, Philip I sits on his throne holding a short staff that terminates in a fleur-de-lis. A similar staff appears in the Great Seal of Louis VII (1120–1180), whose signet ring was charged with a single fleur-de-lis. Louis VII is believed to have been the first to use azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or (the blazon, or heraldic description, now abbreviated azure semé-de-lis or and designated France Ancient) on his shield, but its use on a banner, and especially on the French royal standard, the Oriflamme, may have been earlier. The reduction to three fleurs-de-lis, today designated as France Modern, was commanded by Charles V in 1376, reportedly in honour of the Holy Trinity.

The classical shape of the fleur-de-lis, and the shape adopted by most artists today, is shown in the illustration. Between the classical period and the modern period its design was modified by the limitations and taste of craftsmen and their patrons, so that during those centuries now called the heraldic “Decadence” the outlines could be grotesque. During that time there were also attempts to distinguish between small variations, so that commentators wrote of fleur-de-lis au pied coupé or au pied nourri, in which the feet are absent or are replaced by a trapezoidal pedestal. Such variations were introduced at the artist's whim and have no heraldic significance. The one variation that is recognized is the fleur-de-lis remplie, in which the three petals are separated by two stamens, as in the arms of the city of Florence. Some modern artists give the fleur-de-lis a prominent three-dimensional effect, but this is a matter of license and is ignored in blazon. If a lily is represented naturalistically in heraldry, it is called a lis-de-jardin (“garden lily”) to distinguish it from the stylized fleur-de-lis.