It is shown that the closure of the infinitesimal symmetry transformations underlying classical ${\cal W}$ algebras give rise to L$_\infty$ algebras with in general field dependent gauge parameters. Therefore, the class of well understood ${\cal W}$ algebras provides highly non-trivial examples of such strong homotopy Lie-algebras. We develop the general formalism for this correspondence and apply it explicitly to the classical ${\cal W}_3$ algebra.

15 pages; v2: typos corrected, minor changes