Salvà was born on 4 November 1869 in Palma, the capital of the Balearic island of Mallorca.
Her mother died when she was only a few months old; Maria and brother Antoni (b. 1868) were given to relatives in Llucmajor, while the eldest brother Francesc (b. 1867) was kept by their father and raised in Palma.
Since a young age, Salvà had a keen interest in poetry and language.
In the memoir Between Memory and Longing she wrote: "My fondness for verse and songwriting could almost be said to be innate in me.
My wet nurse, nicknamed Flauta, used to say that when I weaned, I already knew a string of songs".

At the age of six she met her father in Palma and was educated at the ca:Col·legi de la Puresa.
She began writing poems in Catalan at the age of 14 or 15; in these autobiographical poems, she shows an awareness of the exceptional nature with which she would have to experience writing in her youth and the first maturity of being a woman.
At the age of sixteen she returned to Llucmajor, where she alternated between living at la Posada de la Llapassa (on Carrer Rei Jaume I in the town of Llucmajor) and at the la Llapassa estate.
In Palma, however, her career grew through her father's acquaintances; she met with the intellectuals of the Renaixença in Mallorca and writers of Romantic poetry, including Josep Maria Quadrado, Pere d'Alcàntara Penya and, above all, the Costa i Llobera and Ferrà families, who would impact her literary career.
Miquel Costa i Llobera became her mentor.
Salvà was born on 4 November 1869 in Palma, the capital of the Balearic island of Mallorca. Her mother died when she was only a few months old; Maria and brother Antoni (b. 1868) were given to relatives in Llucmajor, while the eldest brother Francesc (b. 1867) was kept by their father and raised in Palma. Since a young age, Salvà had a keen interest in poetry and language. In the memoir Between Memory and Longing she wrote: "My fondness for verse and songwriting could almost be said to be innate in me. My wet nurse, nicknamed Flauta, used to say that when I weaned, I already knew a string of songs".
At the age of six she met her father in Palma and was educated at the ca:Col·legi de la Puresa. She began writing poems in Catalan at the age of 14 or 15; in these autobiographical poems, she shows an awareness of the exceptional nature with which she would have to experience writing in her youth and the first maturity of being a woman. At the age of sixteen she returned to Llucmajor, where she alternated between living at la Posada de la Llapassa (on Carrer Rei Jaume I in the town of Llucmajor) and at the la Llapassa estate. In Palma, however, her career grew through her father's acquaintances; she met with the intellectuals of the Renaixença in Mallorca and writers of Romantic poetry, including Josep Maria Quadrado, Pere d'Alcàntara Penya and, above all, the Costa i Llobera and Ferrà families, who would impact her literary career. Miquel Costa i Llobera became her mentor.
Maria Antònia Salvà i Ripoll