Over the last years significant advances have been made in our understanding of how and where stars and planets form and how they evolve during their earliest stages, both from a physical and chemical point of view. Deep observations of the gas and ice in the environments in which young stars form demonstrate that these regions are characterised by rich and varied chemistry with high abundances of complex organic molecules – some perhaps even of prebiotic relevance. At the same time, a picture has emerged where the first seeds for planets are planted in protoplanetary disks already during the first few 100,000 years after stars form. But, what is the link between this complex chemistry and the structure of the newly formed protoplanetary disks – and does it have any implications for the origin and composition of planets outside of our own Solar System? In the colloquium I will discuss how our understanding of the earliest stages of star and planet formation has evolved over recent years. In particular, I will focus on how ALMA has helped shedding new light on how the properties of emerging protoplanetary disks may reflect the evolution of protostars and conditions in their natal environments.