The title compound, C25H22NO2P, was synthesized in high yield by a three-component Kabachnik-Fields reaction of diphenylphosphine oxide, salicylaldehyde and aniline in dry toluene at room temperature. It precipitates as racemic crystals, in which strong hydrogen bonds between the hydroxy group and the P=O group of a neighbouring molecule form one-dimensional heterochiral chains along the crystallographic a axis, with an O···O separation of 2.568 (2) Å. The pseudo-tetrahedral environment of the P atom is distorted, with O-P-C bond angles significantly larger than the C-P-C angles.