Adolphe Sax was born in Dinant, Belgium, worked in Paris, and patented the saxophone there in 1846.

The composer who backed him first was Berlioz. In 1842 Berlioz wrote approvingly of the new instrument, and in February 1844 he had his Chant sacré played by a group of six instruments, all designed or improved by Sax. The recording below is by a period-instrument group, on historic saxhorns.

The saxhorns have lived on under other names. A reader here pointed out that they survive as the flugelhorn, tenor horn, baritone horn and euphonium, and Berlioz wrote them into the on-stage band of the Trojan March in Les Troyens.

My own saxophone favorites are Takashi Yoshimatsu's powerful "Cyberbird" concerto and Yasuaki Shimizu's Bach transcriptions from the 1990s, which still sound fresh.

Berlioz: Chant sacré, on historic saxhorns (The Prince Regent's Band)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rki4Sk706nQ

Yoshimatsu: Alto Saxophone Concerto "Cyberbird" (Nobuya Sugawa, BBC Philharmonic, Sachio…