Lily of the Valley's scent cannot be captured to make perfumes. If someone try to sell you a Lily of the valley perfume, know that it may not be natural.

Lily of the valley is found across Europe, Asia and in North America, in dry woodland, usually on alkaline soils and sometimes in the crevices or grikes of limestone pavement. In common with many plants that are impossible to eradicate once they've made themselves at home – Reginald Farrer calls it "the worst of all delicious weeds" – it is notoriously difficult to establish. Just below the surface of the soil its stems eke out a living from the leaf litter and radiate outwards, producing tufted roots and aerial shoots at their nodes. This colonising habit, essential in its native habitat as it quests for new food sources, is also the reason for the patchy growth in a garden setting.
If you leave it to wander lily of the valley should flower happily, the stem extending as the round green buds open and allow the bells to hang gracefully.
The lily of the valley is a flower that is most often viewed as a symbol of rebirth and humility. It can be used to symbolize chastity, purity, sweetness, and motherhood, too. Lily of the valley flowers are thought to bring luck in love but can also symbolize a return of happiness.

Lily of the Valley
 
(Convallaria majalis)

Around since at least 1000 B.C., lily of the valley plants are one of the most fragrant blooming plants in the spring and early summer throughout the northern temperate zone. The stems are covered with tiny white, nodding bell-shaped flowers that have a sweet perfume and medium-bright green leaves that are lance-shaped, 4 to 8 inches high and 3 to 5 inches wide.

This moisture loving plant forms a spreading mass with red seed pods remaining after flowering, which makes lily of the valley attractive after blooming and very carefree. Growing lily of the valley plants is easy, as they will remain perennial.

​Lily of the valley restores happiness after sorrow or loss; good for high blood pressure, breathing difficulties, slows a rapid heart beat and heart palpitations. It relieves fluid retention.

On May Day, people all over France will be following Gallic tradition and giving deliciously fragrant posies of muguets des bois as love tokens.

The scent of muguet, known here as lily of the valley, has inspired perfumiers for centuries. It is a British native: the 16th-century Gerard's Herbal describes it as growing "on Hampsted Heath, foure miles from London, in great abundance". 

The second part of the Latin name, Convallaria majalis, refers to the fact that it flowers in May.