diff --git a/src/xpath.c b/src/xpath.c
index 1fd0e9d..35c29f4 100644
--- a/src/xpath.c
+++ b/src/xpath.c
@@ -8470,6 +8470,14 @@
         return LY_EINVAL;
     }
 
+    if (tree) {
+        /* adjust the pointer to be the first top-level sibling */
+        while (tree->parent) {
+            tree = lyd_parent(tree);
+        }
+        tree = lyd_first_sibling(tree);
+    }
+
     /* prepare set for evaluation */
     memset(set, 0, sizeof *set);
     set->type = LYXP_SET_NODE_SET;