La Vestale was Spontini's first opera composed specifically for the Paris Opéra, and among the first great successes of his career. Having garnered only modest attention in his native Italy, Spontini established himself in Paris and quickly gained the admiration of a number of influential figures, including the composer Hector Berlioz, Napoleon, and the Empress Josephine. Their advocacy was fortunate for the composer, since the prevailing taste in French opera houses had turned toward a retrenchment of traditional French musical and dramatic styles and against increasing Italianate influence. Spontini's spacious melodies, colorful orchestrations, and modern harmonies caused the jury at the Paris Opéra to reject La Vestale, calling the music "bizarre" and "noisy." But, after direct intervention by the Empress, the opera was produced on December 15, 1807. It was hailed as a masterpiece by the public and critics alike, and became the biggest operatic success of the First Empire. It was revived throughout the century at the Paris Opéra and at houses abroad. It has also proved popular with modern audiences, and seems likely to remain in the repertoire.

The libretto to La Vestale is by Etienne du Jouy. Du Jouy asked the three greatest French composers of the era, Mehul, Boieldieu, and Cherubini, to set his libretto, but they all refused. He turned to Gasparo Spontini as a last resort, and was accepted. The libretto is exceptionally fine, and was one of Beethoven's favorites. The story, which centers around a vestal virgin torn between love and duty, gave the composer ample opportunity for dramatic exploits, spectacle, and melodrama. Supposedly taken from an historical account of an event that took place in 269 B.C., as related by J.J. Winckelmann, the libretto also bears similarities to an anonymous pantomime of 1786 inspired by a verse-tragedy of Fontanelle.

La Vestale is a true tragedie-lyrique, in the tradition of Lully, Rameau, and Gluck. There are grand divertissements at the ends of the first and third acts, and the primary dramatic arguments are carried in unadorned recitative as well as recitatif oblige in arioso style. A deus ex macchina in the form of a bolt of lightening results in the obligatory lieto fine, or happy ending, required in all tragedies-lyriques. The most powerful act is the second, which features Julia's aria "Impitoyables Dieux," a grand love duet, Julia's prayer, and the High Priest's sentencing of Julia to Death.

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