diff --git a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/xml/SpringXMLLanguageServerComponents.java b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/xml/SpringXMLLanguageServerComponents.java
index a1a474603..d31a6a9b7 100644
--- a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/xml/SpringXMLLanguageServerComponents.java
+++ b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/xml/SpringXMLLanguageServerComponents.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public class SpringXMLLanguageServerComponents implements LanguageServerComponen
 		this.reconcileEngine = new SpringXMLReconcileEngine(projectFinder);
 		
 		config.addListener(ignore -> {
-			reconcileEngine.setSpelExpressionSyntaxValidationEnabled(config.isSpelExpressionValidationEnabled());
+			reconcileEngine.setSpelExpressionSyntaxValidationEnabled(config.isSpelExpressionValidationEnabled() && config.isSpringXMLSupportEnabled());
 		});
 
 	}