Claude Gervaise was a French musician and composer who lived in Paris around 1550. He is best known for his polyphonic arrangements of instrumental music. We owe him (among other things) six books of "Danceries" for four voices (branles, pavanes, gaillards, etc.) published between 1550 and 1557 by the publisher-printer Pierre Attaingnant (c. 1494-c.1551). Many of these tunes were only adaptations of polyphonic songs from the Parisian school. This marked the beginning of the vogue for "dance tunes" where instrumental polyphonic music reached its peak.

The branle (old fr. bransle) is a chain dance in two beats, where boys and girls alternately hold hands. The dancers swing their arms in time with the dance and alternate steps left and right. The branles were popular from the 16th to the 17th century and were part of the repertoire of good society and even of the court.