diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelper.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelper.java
index ac1ea9fb93c..a9caf379a66 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelper.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelper.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 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.
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.w3c.dom.Node;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.xmlunit.builder.DiffBuilder;
+import org.xmlunit.diff.DefaultNodeMatcher;
 import org.xmlunit.diff.Diff;
+import org.xmlunit.diff.ElementSelectors;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.*;
 
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ public class XmlExpectationsHelper {
 
 	/**
 	 * Parse the content as {@link DOMSource} and apply a {@link Matcher}.
-	 * @see <a href="http://code.google.com/p/xml-matchers/">xml-matchers</a>
+	 * @see <a href="https://github.com/davidehringer/xml-matchers">xml-matchers</a>
 	 */
 	public void assertSource(String content, Matcher<? super Source> matcher) throws Exception {
 		Document document = parseXmlString(content);
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ public class XmlExpectationsHelper {
 	 * two are "similar" -- i.e. they contain the same elements and attributes
 	 * regardless of order.
 	 * <p>Use of this method assumes the
-	 * <a href="http://xmlunit.sourceforge.net/">XMLUnit<a/> library is available.
+	 * <a href="https://github.com/xmlunit/xmlunit">XMLUnit<a/> library is available.
 	 * @param expected the expected XML content
 	 * @param actual the actual XML content
 	 * @see org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.MockMvcResultMatchers#xpath(String, Object...)
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ public class XmlExpectationsHelper {
 	 */
 	public void assertXmlEqual(String expected, String actual) throws Exception {
 		Diff diffSimilar = DiffBuilder.compare(expected).withTest(actual)
+				.withNodeMatcher(new DefaultNodeMatcher(ElementSelectors.byNameAndText))
 				.ignoreWhitespace().ignoreComments()
 				.checkForSimilar()
 				.build();
diff --git a/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelperTests.java b/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelperTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f4fe6f1da73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/util/XmlExpectationsHelperTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 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.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.test.util;
+
+import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link XmlExpectationsHelper}.
+ *
+ * @author Matthew Depue
+ */
+public class XmlExpectationsHelperTests {
+
+	@Rule
+	public final ExpectedException exception = ExpectedException.none();
+
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertXmlEqualForEqual() throws Exception {
+		final String control = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+		final String test = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+
+		final XmlExpectationsHelper xmlHelper = new XmlExpectationsHelper();
+		xmlHelper.assertXmlEqual(control, test);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertXmlEqualExceptionForIncorrectValue() throws Exception {
+		final String control = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+		final String test = "<root><field1>notf1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+
+		exception.expect(AssertionError.class);
+		exception.expectMessage(Matchers.startsWith("Body content Expected child 'field1'"));
+
+		final XmlExpectationsHelper xmlHelper = new XmlExpectationsHelper();
+		xmlHelper.assertXmlEqual(control, test);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertXmlEqualForOutOfOrder() throws Exception {
+		final String control = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+		final String test = "<root><field2>f2</field2><field1>f1</field1></root>";
+
+		final XmlExpectationsHelper xmlHelper = new XmlExpectationsHelper();
+		xmlHelper.assertXmlEqual(control, test);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertXmlEqualExceptionForMoreEntries() throws Exception {
+		final String control = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+		final String test = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2><field3>f3</field3></root>";
+
+		exception.expect(AssertionError.class);
+		exception.expectMessage(Matchers.containsString("Expected child nodelist length '2' but was '3'"));
+
+		final XmlExpectationsHelper xmlHelper = new XmlExpectationsHelper();
+		xmlHelper.assertXmlEqual(control, test);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertXmlEqualExceptionForLessEntries() throws Exception {
+		final String control = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2><field3>f3</field3></root>";
+		final String test = "<root><field1>f1</field1><field2>f2</field2></root>";
+
+		exception.expect(AssertionError.class);
+		exception.expectMessage(Matchers.containsString("Expected child nodelist length '3' but was '2'"));
+
+		final XmlExpectationsHelper xmlHelper = new XmlExpectationsHelper();
+		xmlHelper.assertXmlEqual(control, test);
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file