Vilma Lindhé was born in Norrköping, daughter of a shipbuilder and shipyard owner, married in 1857, and had six children in the course of eleven years.
Her debut work was the short tale Tvenne julmorgnar, published in 1877, and in the 1880s, her most productive period, she published several works including Ebb och flod (SS), 1883, Vid gassken och dagsljus. Bilder ur teaterlifvet (N), 1885, and Mödrar (D), 1887, which in a style typical of the period examines the conflict between love and art.