The first inhabitants of Val-d'Ajol may have been either Spaniards fleeing the Arabs ( Poitiers 732 ), or Charlemagne's troops passing through the region where he had family. They settled on a mound in the middle of a damp valley, now called La Croix, with the permission of the Ladies of Remiremont.

The community grew and, with their help, obtained permission to build a church at a place called Laître (where a cemetery and chapel had previously existed). The Val was materially dependent on the Canonesses of Remiremont , princesses of the Holy Roman Empire, under the protection of the Duke of Lorraine, but reporting directly to the Papacy. Spiritually, the Archdiocese of Besançon governed the community. The parish was served by the monks of Hérival.

The territory sees the troops of Turenne, the Swedes during the Thirty Years War, Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine trying to reconquer his duchy. By the sovereignty of the Archbishop of Besançon, Louis XIV will annex the Val for a while. The population despite everything increases and requires an enlargement of the church. The inhabitants colonize the barns, places where the animals grazed and many hamlets are created. Duke Leopold recovers his duchy in 1704. In the years 1735 his son François III gave up in favor of an Austrian title. Stanislas manages the duchy until 1766, then the Val will become French.
Mainly agricultural country, the town will be transformed into an industrial valley after the war of 70 with the arrival of Alsatian industrialists fleeing the German occupation. Mainly spinning and weaving will benefit from the hydraulic power of La Combeauté. The other side of the coin, this lack of diversity will lead to the decline of the population after the Second World War.

Today, Val-d'Ajol's economy is based on crafts and small industries. The only remaining vestige of its past is the Andouille Fair, held on the third Monday of February. This ancient fair (officially established by Louis Philippe in 1831 and then confirmed by the Prefect of the Vosges in 1852) was originally a livestock fair. Farmers would replenish their herds for the new season. A victim of mechanization, it declined after the Second World War. Thanks to a bold initiative by a group of Rabelaisian-spirited individuals, the fair found a second life with the creation of a gastronomic brotherhood that extols the virtues of a local product: Andouille sausage. Since 1965, the Learned, Distinguished, and Gourmet Brotherhood of Andouille and Gandoyaux Tasters of Val-d'Ajol has revived this event. It now attracts 30,000 to 40,000 people over three days on the 3rd Monday of February each year.