Massenet combined for this work two traits most often associated with French opera and operetta: gauzily sentimental romantic sensibilities and social satire. The atmosphere is thoroughly eighteenth century, even though it was written on the cusp of the nineteenth; for the ball and similar music evoking the court, Massenet used minuets, rigadouns, and florentins rather than the more typical Romantic-era waltzes, for an appropriately anachronistic feeling (though in deference to the current taste for exoticism, he included an Indonesian dance at the prince's ball). The use of a trouser role for the prince and the characters stepping out of character at the end to deliver the moral also add to the sense of an innocent, even sexless fairy tale, in its own way as removed from the occasional goriness of the Perrault original as Rossini's brilliantly-hued coloratura-spouting Cenerentola.

It was a great success, critics and public alike admiring Massenet's skillful sense of mood as well as did Albert Carre's luxurious staging at the Opera-Comique. While the subsequent premieres at other houses were not necessarily as lavish, it enjoyed similar success. It has had occasional revivals, though many of these, including the (so far) one major recording, have featured a tenor as the prince, losing much of the original flavor.

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