In his youth Jaques-Dalcroze studied composition and by 1892 was professor of harmony at the Geneva Conservatory. Convinced that current methods of training professional musicians needed reform, he revised the teaching of harmony and developed his system of rhythmic education, in which bodily movements are used to represent musical rhythms. About 1905 he applied eurythmics to elementary school children and later demonstrated his controversial methods in England and on the European continent. In 1910 he founded the first school for eurythmic instruction at Hellerau, Ger., and in 1914 established a central school in Geneva, which he headed until his death.

Eurythmics was designed to deepen awareness of musical rhythms and aimed “to create by the help of rhythm a rapid and regular current of communication between brain and body.” His pupils were taught to indicate note values by movements of the feet and body and time values by movements of the arms. The Dalcroze method (or a modified version of it) was frequently used to give plastic expression to fugues, symphonies, and operas. Eurythmics also influenced the development of 20th-century dance through the contributions of such students as Rudolf Laban (Laban, Rudolf), Mary Wigman (Wigman, Mary), Hanya Holm (Holm, Hanya), Marie Rambert (Rambert, Dame Marie), Kurt Jooss (Jooss, Kurt), and Uday Shankar (Shankar, Uday).

Jaques-Dalcroze, who had studied with Anton Bruckner (Bruckner, Anton) and Robert Fuchs in Vienna and with Léo Delibes (Delibes, Léo) in Paris, wrote three string quartets and two violin concerti, as well as numerous pieces for the piano. His arrangements of popular songs, children's rounds, and chansons de geste were used for the teaching of eurythmics in schools. He also published the Méthode Jaques-Dalcroze (5 parts, 1907–14); Eurythmics, Art and Education (1930); and Rhythm, Music and Education (1922).