The main sentence of a cheque is “Payez contre ce chèque {montant} à {destinataire}”, where the parts in braces are what you need to fill in (the montant (amount) must be filled twice, once written out in words and once numerically). This is from the verb construction payer quelque chose à quelqu’un (pay something to somebody). More precisely, the recipient’s identity is the ordre du chèque (TLF III.B.2); the complete formula for a cheque is “Payer à l’ordre de {destinataire}”.

Like many official documents, just before the signature, you need to fill in “À {lieu} le {date}”, i.e. the place (town name) and date where you signed the document. This sentence fragment is from the phrase “Ce document a été fait à {lieu} le {date}”, which is never written out in full but only as “Fait à {lieu} le {date}” or just “à {lieu} le {date}*”.

See How do I pay with a French cheque? for a more complete guide to filling a French cheque.