Sonnerie is French for "making sound" or "ring". The term generally applies to bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

s or bell

Bell (instrument)

A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...

s in mechanical clocks or wristwatches (see for example grande sonnerie

Grande sonnerie

Grande sonnerie is a complication in a mechanical watch or clock which combines a quarter striking mechanism with a repeater. On the quarter-hour, it strikes the number of hours audibly on a gong, and then the number of quarter-hours since the hour on a second gong. In addition it can strike the...

), but can equally be used, for example, for the sound produced by a telephone.

Sonnerie watches are revered by connoisseur

Connoisseur

A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...

s for chiming the time on tiny gong

Gong

A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....

s on the hour and the quarter "in passing", and require highly skilled watchmakers as they "cannot be made satisfactorily through purely industrial means."

When "Sonnerie" is used as the name of a musical composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

, it bears connotations of:

• Sounds produced by bell towers, for example Marin Marais
  Marin Marais
  Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles...
  
  ' Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris
  Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris
  Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris, "The Bells of St. Genevieve" in English, is a work by Marin Marais written in 1723 for viol, violin and harpsichord with basso continuo. It can be considered a passacaglia or a chaconne, with a repeating D, F, E bass line...
  
  (1723), Carillon from Bizet's L'Arlésienne or Cole Porter
  Cole Porter
  Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
  
  's I Happen to Like New York - all three of which rely on a repeated three-note figure to convey the peal of church bells, funeral bells or ship bells.
• Sounds produced by the bells of alarm clock
  Alarm clock
  An alarm clock is a clock that is designed to make a loud sound at a specific time. The primary use of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they are sometimes used for other reminders as well. To stop the sound, a button or handle on the clock is pressed; but...
  
  s or trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  s sounding a réveil
  Reveille
  "Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
  
  , for example Erik Satie
  Erik Satie
  Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
  
  's Sonnerie pour réveiller le bon gros Roi des Singes (lequel ne dort toujours que d'un oeil) (1921)
• Outdoor music, for example performed by horn
  Horn (instrument)
  The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
  
  s before a hunt
  Hunting
  Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
  
  , or a serenade
  Serenade
  In music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....
  
   performed in honour of a special person,...
• Any combination of the previous associations, for example Erik Satie's Sonneries de la Rose+Croix
  Sonneries de la Rose+Croix
  is a piano composition by Erik Satie, first published in 1892, while he was composer and chapel-master of the Rosicrucian "", led by Sâr Joséphin Péladan....
  
  (1892)