Born of Italian parents, Lully gallicized his name when he became a naturalized Frenchman. His early history is obscure, but he probably was taken to France by the Duke de Guise. He entered the service of Mlle de Montpensier and became a member of her string ensemble but was dismissed for having composed some scurrilous verses and music. He joined the court violin ensemble of Louis XIV in 1652 or 1653 and soon became composer of dance music to the king and leader of the newly formed Petit-Violons du Roi. In 1658 he began to compose music for the court ballets, and from 1664 to 1670 he collaborated with Molière in such works as Le Mariage forcé, La Princesse d'Élide, and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. From 1672 until the time of his death he worked with the librettist Philippe Quinault on operatic and ballet works varying from the classical Atys (1676) and Isis (1677) to the heroic Roland (1685) and the pastoral Le Temple de la paix (1685). He died of an infected wound in his foot caused by his long conducting stick.

Lully was a man of insatiable ambition whose rise from violinist in Louis XIV's court band was meteoric and was accomplished by brazen and merciless intrigue. He held royal appointments as musical composer to the king (from 1661) and as music master to the royal family (from 1662). He then acquired from Pierre Perrin and Robert Cambert their patents of operatic production, and by 1674 no opera could be performed anywhere in France without Lully's permission. In 1681 he received his lettres de nationalisation and his lettres de noblesse. He also became one of the secrétaires du roi, a privilege usually held only by the French aristocracy.

At the outset Lully's operatic style was thought similar to that of the Italian masters Francesco Cavalli and Luigi Rossi. He quickly assimilated the contemporary French idiom, however, and is credited with creating a new and original style. In his ballets he introduced new dances, such as the minuet, and used a higher proportion of quicker ones, such as the bourrée, gavotte, and gigue; he also introduced women dancers to the stage. The texts in most of his ballets and all his operas were French. His operas were described as “tragedies set to music,” owing to their highly developed dramatic and theatrical aspects.

Lully established the form of the French overture. He replaced the recitativo secco style favoured by the Italians with an accompanied recitative noted for its great rhythmic freedom and careful word setting. He developed a style of declamation that was well-suited to the French language; this innovation led to a lessening of the demarcation between the recitative and the aria, so that French opera acquired much more continuity. The arias themselves, however, retain many Italian characteristics. Each is written in a particular style and mood: chanson à couplets, air-complainte (arioso), and air déclamé. His operas frequently end with a chaconne movement, and in this he was followed by both Jean-Philippe Rameau and Christoph Gluck.

Among Lully's other works are many sacred compositions, including the famous Miserere and a number of motets; dances for various instruments; suites for trumpets and strings, a form that became very popular in England during the Stuart Restoration (from 1660); and the Suites de Symphonies et Trios.