Floral scent holds significant aesthetic and biological values. However, tulips have received less attention for their floral fragrance than the vibrant petal colors and exquisite bud shapes. Here, sensory assessment, E-nose, and HS-SPME-GC-MS were carried out to determine the scent intensity and characteristics of 14 tulip cultivars. Based on their scent intensity, the cultivars were divided into four groups, among which group Ⅰ was the most aromatic (MS = 4.20), followed by group Ⅱ (3.03 ≤ MS ≤ 3.97), group Ⅲ (2.43 ≤ MS ≤ 2.77), and finally group Ⅳ (1.00 ≤ MS ≤ 1.57). Compared with the sensory assessment, E-nose also categorized the 14 tulips into four categories according to the multi-dimensional sensor responses, suggesting a relatively strong relationship between them (R2 ≈ 0.57), and consistently confirming the scientific evaluation of tulip cultivars’ scent. For HS-SPME-GC-MS analysis, 21 volatiles were putatively detected, mainly aliphatics (9, 42.86 %), terpenoids (7, 33.33 %), and benzenoids/phenylpropanoids (4, 19.05 %). Octanal, nonanal, phenylethyl alcohol, and phenylacetaldehyde (17.82 ≤ ROAV ≤ 100) were key components in T. ‘Delta Queen’, contributing to its distinctive aroma reminiscent of citrus and rosy. T. ‘Spryng Break’ cultivar contained octanal, eucalyptol, and nonanal (22.51 ≤ ROAV ≤ 100), imparting citrusy and herbal aromas. The fragrance of T. ‘Lion King’ is likely a blend of citrus, grassy, and green scents due to the presence of nonanal and hexanal (71.81 ≤ ROAV ≤ 100). In T. ‘Red Judo’, octanal, nonanal, and decanal (10.64 ≤ ROAV ≤ 100) combined to create its pure citrus aroma. These findings are expected to provide a valuable reference for tulip floral fragrance analysis, establish a theoretical foundation for its fragrant germplasm breeding, and promote the development of tulip fragrance industry.