Tansman was born and raised in Łódź, Congress Poland. His parents were both of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry. His father Moshe Tantzman (1868–1908) died when Alexander was 10 and his mother Hannah (née Gourvitch, 1872-1935) reared him and his older sister Teresa alone.
Tansman later wrote:
Tansman explained his later Francophile tendencies:

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