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Tellurium (Te)-rich rare-earth (R) transition-metal tellurides with low-dimensional Te networks provide alluring systems to explore the formations of Charge Density Waves (CDWs). The lack of knowledge concerning the bonding in Te-rich rare-earth transition-metal tellurides inspired us to determine the electronic structures and the nature of bonding for two prototypical examples, namely LaCu0.28Te2 and Gd3Cu2Te7, by means of first-principles based methods. From the chemical bonding analyses based on the projector Crystal orbital Hamilton Population (-pCOHP) method, it is clear that the vast majority of the bonding resides between the R−Te separations; yet, it is the subtle interplay between the Cu−Te and Te−Te interactions that appears to control the degrees of distortions within the one-dimensional Te chains in order to maximize the overall bond-ing.