As Mr Blair arrived in the Palace courtyard, Jacques Chirac came down the steps to meet him, greeting him in English, and gesturing up at the sky with a smile, as if to suggest that the prime minister had brought British weather with him.
Then came a prolonged warm handshake between the two leaders in front of the waiting cameras and President Chirac could be heard asking about Mr Blair's family.
It was all in stark contrast to their last few meetings when the two men clashed over the EU budget.
At a bad-tempered EU summit in June, Mr Blair had insisted that France sacrifice some of Europe's farming subsidies while Mr Chirac demanded an end to the British budget rebate.
Then, at their last meeting in Paris, the British prime minister was not offered the traditional press conference at the Elysee.
Globalisation challenges
It was all very different today. Neither issue was on the agenda this morning. Instead, the message as the two leaders emerged from their one-and-a-half hour talks was one of harmony, even on the key question of how Europe should deal with the challenges of globalisation.
"There will always be differences on these types of issues," Mr Blair said as he stood shoulder to shoulder with President Chirac.
"But it's important to see if we can find a way forward for Europe, because that's important for Europe's citizens."
For his part, Mr Chirac laughed incredulously when a British journalist from the Independent newspaper asked if the two men had been able to agree on anything at all.
"Everyone knows there have been and will be differences of opinion between Britain and France," he replied with a smile.
"And that's normal. But you have to realise that we are conscious of the difficulties facing Europe and we are determined to resolve them together."
The aim of this meeting was to pave the way for this month's EU summit at Hampton Court on 27 October which will focus on what direction Europe should take after the double blow of the rejection of the European Constitution by France and the Netherlands earlier this year.
'French malaise'
It is clear there are still crucial differences of opinion, not only on which direction Europe should take but also on how it needs to respond to the challenges of globalisation. At the recent Labour party conference, Tony Blair spoke of the "French malaise", a reference to French unemployment levels of around 10%.
This week, Mr Chirac berated Brussels for failing to protect European jobs and industry. These comments on both sides show two rather different, even competing, visions of Europe.
Yet in today's atmosphere of harmony at the Elysee, it seemed that both leaders preferred to avoid any possible disagreements, focussing instead on what unites rather than divides their visions of Europe's future.
As Mr Blair's dark green Jaguar swept out of the courtyard for his meeting with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the president's security men politely but firmly shooed away the last of the British camera crews with what sounded suspiciously like a sigh of relief... perhaps echoed silently from within the Elysee itself.