diff --git a/transition.go b/transition.go
index b5a46c2..2867c35 100644
--- a/transition.go
+++ b/transition.go
@@ -186,8 +186,11 @@ func (t *transitionMutatorImpl) topDownMutator(mctx TopDownMutatorContext) {
 	// and modules that directly depend on it. Since this is a top-down mutator,
 	// all modules that directly depend on this module have already been processed
 	// so no locking is necessary.
-	module.transitionVariations = addToStringListIfNotPresent(module.transitionVariations, mutatorSplits...)
+	// Sort the module transitions, but keep the mutatorSplits in the order returned
+	// by Split, as the order can be significant when inter-variant dependencies are
+	// used.
 	sort.Strings(module.transitionVariations)
+	module.transitionVariations = addToStringListIfNotPresent(mutatorSplits, module.transitionVariations...)
 
 	outgoingTransitionCache := make([][]string, len(module.transitionVariations))
 	for srcVariationIndex, srcVariation := range module.transitionVariations {
diff --git a/transition_test.go b/transition_test.go
index 3e07b53..a380b86 100644
--- a/transition_test.go
+++ b/transition_test.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ const testTransitionBp = `
 			transition_module {
 			    name: "A",
 			    deps: ["B", "C"],
-				split: ["a", "b"],
+				split: ["b", "a"],
 			}
 
 			transition_module {
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func TestTransition(t *testing.T) {
 	assertNoErrors(t, errs)
 
 	// Module A uses Split to create a and b variants
-	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "A", []string{"a", "b"})
+	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "A", []string{"b", "a"})
 	// Module B inherits a and b variants from A
 	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "B", []string{"", "a", "b"})
 	// Module C inherits a and b variants from A, but gets an outgoing c variant from B
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ func TestPostTransitionDeps(t *testing.T) {
 	assertNoErrors(t, errs)
 
 	// Module A uses Split to create a and b variants
-	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "A", []string{"a", "b"})
+	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "A", []string{"b", "a"})
 	// Module B inherits a and b variants from A
 	checkTransitionVariants(t, ctx, "B", []string{"", "a", "b"})
 	// Module C inherits a and b variants from A, but gets an outgoing c variant from B