diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/FreeMarkerConfigurerBeanDefinitionParser.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/FreeMarkerConfigurerBeanDefinitionParser.java
index 30b3716999b..7524e63a63b 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/FreeMarkerConfigurerBeanDefinitionParser.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/FreeMarkerConfigurerBeanDefinitionParser.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2021 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -61,9 +61,6 @@ public class FreeMarkerConfigurerBeanDefinitionParser extends AbstractSingleBean
 			for (Element childElement : childElements) {
 				locations.add(childElement.getAttribute("location"));
 			}
-			if (locations.isEmpty()) {
-				locations.add("/WEB-INF/");
-			}
 			builder.addPropertyValue("templateLoaderPaths", StringUtils.toStringArray(locations));
 		}
 	}