Born in Girona in , Xavier Montsalvatge began his musical training at an early age in Barcelona under masters such as , , Toldrà, Costa and Pahissa. At the time, Barcelona was alive with musical activity and he was able to hear the works o , and played by the composers themselves and by musicians of the stature of Rubinstein, Landowska and as well as Diaghilev's Russian ballets. Before long, he found that musical composition attracted him, and he wrote his first piece, , which won the Patxot Foundation's Rabell prize. Since then, he has composed over one hundred covering the whole range of musical genres from to and from to , which the most prestigious musician of the day have been happy to include in their repertoire.

Alongside his artistic work, he has been employed as music by such prestigious publications as Destino magazine and La Vanguardia newspaper and has been professor of at 's Superior Conservatory. His work as an artist has earned him various including an Honorary Doctorate from the Barcelona University, the Sant Jordi and the Premi d'Honor de la . Furthermore, he is a member of the Reial Academia de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi and has recently been accepted as a permanent member of 's Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.