Analyzing how climate change has affected forest growth is crucial for adapting forest management to climate change. We investigated how climate change has modified stand dominant height for 20 European tree species. We used an innovative method combining more than 17,000 forest inventory observations and a climate dataset going back to 1872 to model stand dominant height dynamics as a function of annual climate. We then analyzed climate change impact over the past century by comparing stand dominant height dynamics under a scenario without climate change to stand dominant height dynamics under actual climate. For the environmental conditions considered, we found a positive response of stand dominant height to past climate change for most species considered, albeit with between- and within-species differences. Our results suggest that this positive response could become negative under continued climate change.