Born on July 23, 1851, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Parlange attended Centenary College of Louisiana and read law in 1873. He entered private practice in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana from 1873 to 1880. He was named United States Commissioner from Louisiana to the Paris Exposition of 1878 and was a member of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1879. He was a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1880 to 1885. He was the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1885 to 1889. He resumed private practice in New Orleans from 1889 to 1892. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 1892 to 1893. He was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana from 1893 to 1894.