Merit of French verse in translation (7)
I believe the answer is:
deserve
'merit' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'of french verse in translation' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de' ('of' in French).
'in translation' indicates anagramming the letters (translate can mean to transform).
'verse' is an anagram of 'serve'.
'de'+'serve'='DESERVE'
(Other definitions for deserve that I've seen before include "Justify" , "Merit, earn" , "Be entitled to" , "Warrant" , "rate" .)