'music-loving' originates from English, specifically the words 'music' and 'loving'. 'music' comes from Old French 'musique' and Latin 'musica', ultimately from Greek 'mousikē' (from 'mousa'), where 'mousa' referred to the Muses (arts). 'loving' derives from Old English 'lufu' / verb 'lufian', from Proto-Germanic '*lubō' meaning 'affection' or 'desire'.

'music' changed from Greek 'mousikē' to Latin 'musica' to Old French 'musique' and eventually became the modern English word 'music'. 'loving' developed from Old English 'lufian'/'lufu' into Middle English 'loven'/ 'love' and then the participial adjective form 'loving', combining to form the compound 'music-loving' in Modern English.

Initially, 'music' referred specifically to art associated with the Muses and 'love' to general affection; over time these retained related senses and the compound 'music-loving' came to mean simply 'fond of music' in contemporary usage.