Ehrling was born in Malmö, Sweden, the son of a banker. From the age of 18 he attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm. At the academy he studied the violin, organ, and piano as well as conducting. During World War II, he studied under both Karl Böhm and Albert Wolff. Ehrling also taught at the Juilliard School of Music between 1973 and 1987. He died in New York, where he had lived since the 1970s. He was married to a former Stockholm opera ballerina, Gunnel Lindgren. They had two daughters.