La Vie en Rose was initiated by Café Teater, which has for many years promoted promoting the development of the Slovene chanson. The first festival was held in 2001 with the objective of bringing back to life this musical genre and presenting it to Slovene audiences.

The festival takes place over several days; the central part of the festival is the International Evening of Chansons, which presents many distinguished singers, actors, and musicians from different parts of the world - past guests have included the famous Italian diva Miva and her conductor Hubert Stuppner, Corine Milian, Arsen Dedić, Gabi Novak and Rade Šerbedžija to name but a few.

The first few festivals took place in the Knight's Hall at Križanke, before moving to Ljubljana Castle, to Križanke Open Air Stage and finally to Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre.

The festival co-operates with Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia) for live radio and television broadcasts of its events, with foreign embassies in Ljubljana, with the French Cultural Institute Charles Nodier, Ljubljana and with Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre.