Hundreds of songs survive from the fourteenth century that we describe as ‘French’ and ‘courtly’ on account of the language and style of their lyrics and music. For all this abundance, though, we possess surprisingly few facts regarding many key aspects of these works, not least precisely when, where and for whom they were composed or how they were interpreted by their original audiences. In fact, most of the extant song repertory is transmitted in manuscripts copied outside France that do not readily evoke a courtly context at all, and, in general, the songs themselves betray little or nothing about their genesis or about the function they fulfilled in late medieval society. In this seminar, I shall examine a selection of songs that offer some clues that might help fill in some of this elusive context. In particular, I shall consider how relating the works in question to contemporary material artefacts and associated rituals invites us to site them in the milieu of the Valois courts, and, potentially, sheds light on the circumstances that prompted their composition and on the political role they played in late medieval princely society.