The composition of S-rich apatite, of volatile-rich glass inclusions in apatite, and of interstitial glasses in alkaline xenoliths from the 1949 basanite eruption in La Palma has been investigated to constrain the partitioning of volatiles between apatite and alkali-rich melts. The xenoliths are interpreted as cumulates from alkaline La Palma magmas. Apatite contains up to 0.89 wt% SO3 (3560 ppm S), 0.31 wt% Cl, and 0.66 wt% Ce2O3. Sulfur is incorporated in apatite via several independent exchange reactions involving (P5+, Ca2+) vs. (S6+, Si4+, Na+, and Ce3+). The concentration of halogens in phonolitic to trachytic glasses ranges from 0.15 to 0.44 wt% for Cl and from < 0.07 to 0.65 wt% for F. The sulfur concentration in the glasses ranges from 0.06 to 0.23 wt% SO3 (sulfate-saturated systems). The chlorine partition coefficients (D (Cl) (apatite/glass) ) range from 0.4 to 1.3 (average D (Cl) (apatite/glass) = 0.8), in good agreement with the results of experimental data in mafic and rhyolitic system with low Cl concentrations. With increasing F in glass inclusions D (F) (apatite/glass) decreases from 35 to 3. However, most of our data display a high partition coefficient (similar to 30) close to D (F) (apatite/glass) determined experimentally in felsic rock. D (S) (apatite/glass) decreases from 9.1 to 2.9 with increasing SO3 in glass inclusions. The combination of natural and experimental data reveals that the S partition coefficient tends toward a value of 2 for high S content in the glass (> 0.2 wt% SO3). D (S) (apatite/glass) is only slightly dependent on the melt composition and can be expressed as: SO3 apatite (wt%) = 0.157 * ln SO3 glass (wt%) + 0.9834. The phonolitic compositions of glass inclusions in amphibole and hauyne are very similar to evolved melts erupted on La Palma. The lower sulfur content and the higher Cl content in the phonolitic melt compared to basaltic magmas erupted in La Palma suggest that during magma evolution the crystallization of hauyne and pyrrhotite probably buffered the sulfur content of the melt, whereas the evolution of Cl concentration reflects an incompatible behavior. Trachytic compositions similar to those of the (water-rich) glass inclusions analyzed in apatite and clinopyroxene are not found as erupted products. These compositions are interpreted to be formed by the reaction between water-rich phonolitic melt and peridotite wall-rock.