Koechlin had very free views about music, and this is probably why he never got a teaching job at the Piano Conservatoire. He also agreed with some things that the Communists thought. He did not like modern inventions like the telephone and radio. He looked like an old Russian patriarch with his long beard. He dressed in velvet trousers, sandals and a shepherd’s cape for bad weather. He liked outdoor activities such as swimming and mountaineering. He was offered the Legion d’honneur in 1940 but refused it.