Maria Kuncewiczowa was born on October 30, 1895 in Samara, Russian Empire. Her parents had been exiled to Russia for involvement in the January 1863 Polish Insurrection, and the family returned to Warsaw when she was 2 years old. Her parents were members of the Polish intelligentsia class, or the impoverished educated class. Her mother was a violist who gave up her career to raise a family, which was one thing that drew Kuncewiczowa to music in her early life. She studied music and literature in Kraków, Warsaw and Paris before she chose a literary vocation.