The Supreme Council for France was established in October 1804 by Ill. Comte Alexandre de Grasse–Tilly, 33°, then an active member of the "Supreme Council of the 33d degree for the United States of America" founded in 1801, which exists today as the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction. At that time, Ill. de Grasse–Tilly was also Grand Commander "for life" of the Supreme Council in the French West India Islands (founded in 1802), an office from which he retired in 1818 in favor of Duc Decazes. In 1802–1803, the native revolt of St. Domingo caused the French, including de Grasse–Tilly, to flee for America and Europe. Thus this Supreme Council had, at best, an ephemeral existence. He then turned his powers in 1821 to the Supreme Council for France.

On December 5, 1804, the Supreme Council for France and the Grand Orient of France entered into a "concordat." It was formally broken on September 6, 1805. In July 1806, de Grasse–Tilly resigned his office as Grand Commander of France in favor of Prince Cambaceres, Arch Chancellor of the French Empire. In 1818, de Grasse–Tilly attempted to reclaim his powers under the schismatic "Prado" Supreme Council, when he was punished by them by having his powers, degrees, and titles stripped. All French Scottish Rite Bodies suffered from internal and external strife and had a nominal existence, if they were lucky enough to survive at all. In 1821, however, the surviving members of the regular Supreme Council for France succeeded in reactivating the Order. Later on the French jurisdiction changed its name to Supreme Council of France that remains today the second in seniority of the Supreme Councils existing in the world and the first on the European continent.

Among the Grand Commanders who have presided over the Rite in France, Ill. René Raymond, 33°, deserves today some renewed attention, considering the present international situation. Raised a Master Mason in 1899, Ill. Raymond received all the Scottish Rite Degrees and was elected an Active Member of the Supreme Council for France in 1910, when his father, Jean–Marie Raymond, was Sovereign Grand Commander. René Raymond fulfilled various offices and acted as Grand Commander from 1918 to 1924. After the short presidency of Ill. Gustave Desmons, 33°, Ill. Raymond was formally elected Grand Commander on September 15, 1926. He occupied the chair to his death, 32 years later, the longest term of office of a Grand Commander in the history of the Supreme Council of France. This exceptional performance was due to the personality of Ill. Bro. Raymond and to his traditional and historically correct approach of the Scottish Rite. His profession as an electrical engineer and a chemist did not predispose him to esotericism. As a young Mason, he quickly became a resolute opponent to the Grand Orient de France because of its political involvement and its endemic fights against the Supreme Council for France.

In the Grande Loge de France, René Raymond was among the founders of Lodge Thebah that, in the years 1918 and following, was known to be conservative of the basic rules of the Order. Grand Commander Raymond also belonged during a long period to a circle named Mouvement Cosmique that studied links between humanity and the universe. Ill. Raymond formed his own strongly held personal philosophy, but, considering the impossibility to get at certainty in such matters, he permanently kept to an open-minded attitude of tolerance, in search for an honorable modus vivendi whenever problems risked opposition of one Brother to another or friction between Supreme Councils.

Grand Commander Raymond wrote books signing himself Rene Verrier. One of them relative to the Mother Scottish (Rite) Lodge of Marseilles, 1751–1814, is remarkable for its clarity and the documents it conveys.

In 1929, Ill. Raymond presided at the IV International Conference of Supreme Councils held in Paris. Like all his predecessors since 1804, he conducted the foreign affairs of the Supreme Council for France in concert with the Grand Commanders of the United States and the Grand Commander of Canada. In those days, transatlantic travels were less easy and more costly than now. Nevertheless, Ill. Raymond visited the United States almost every year to strengthen the mutual understanding judged essential for the Scottish Rite and regular Masonry in Europe. His successors also kept to this policy, in particular Grand Commander Charles Riandey, 33°, who was not able to prevent the unfortunate schism of the Scottish Rite in France that occurred in 1966. As a consequence, the Supreme Council of France was declared hopelessly irregular by both U.S. Scottish Rite Jurisdictions, the Supreme Council for Canada, and that of the Netherlands. Grand Commander Riandey then established a new Supreme Council for France recognized by the other regular Supreme Councils of the world as the legitimate continuation of the Body created in 1804 by Ill. de Grasse–Tilly.

To 1986, the Grand Commanders that succeeded Ill. Charles Riandey at the head of this new regular Supreme Council for France remained faithful to this traditional policy of fruitful cooperation with the North American Jurisdictions.