diff --git a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
index ebc294b6031f..ab781b16591f 100644
--- a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
+++ b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ private TableMetadata loadTableMetadata(String metadataLocation) {
     TableMetadata.Builder builder = TableMetadata.buildFrom(TableMetadataParser.read(io(), metadataLocation))
         .setCurrentSchema(table.getSchemaId())
         .setDefaultSortOrder(table.getSortOrderId())
-        .setDefaultPartitionSpec(table.getSpecId());
+        .setDefaultPartitionSpec(table.getSpecId())
+        .withMetadataLocation(metadataLocation);
     if (table.getSnapshotId() != -1) {
       builder.setBranchSnapshot(table.getSnapshotId(), SnapshotRef.MAIN_BRANCH);
     }
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestBranchVisibility.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestBranchVisibility.java
index 64bd6660be31..3a8b40d7b2b6 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestBranchVisibility.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestBranchVisibility.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecordBuilder;
+import org.apache.iceberg.BaseTable;
 import org.apache.iceberg.DataFile;
 import org.apache.iceberg.Snapshot;
 import org.apache.iceberg.Table;
@@ -173,6 +174,32 @@ public void testSchemaSnapshot() throws Exception {
     Assertions.assertThat(metadataOn2).isNotEqualTo(metadataOnTest).isNotEqualTo(metadataOnTest2);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testMetadataLocation() throws Exception {
+    String branch1 = "test";
+    String branch2 = "branch-2";
+
+    // commit on tableIdentifier1 on branch1
+    NessieCatalog catalog = initCatalog(branch1);
+    String metadataLocationOfCommit1 = addRow(catalog, tableIdentifier1, "initial-data",
+        ImmutableMap.of("id0", 4L));
+
+    createBranch(branch2, catalog.currentHash(), branch1);
+    // commit on tableIdentifier1 on branch2
+    catalog = initCatalog(branch2);
+    String metadataLocationOfCommit2 = addRow(catalog, tableIdentifier1, "some-more-data",
+        ImmutableMap.of("id0", 42L));
+    Assertions.assertThat(metadataLocationOfCommit2).isNotNull().isNotEqualTo(metadataLocationOfCommit1);
+
+    catalog = initCatalog(branch1);
+    // load tableIdentifier1 on branch1
+    BaseTable table = (BaseTable) catalog.loadTable(tableIdentifier1);
+    // branch1's tableIdentifier1's metadata location
+    // should be the latest global state (aka commit2 from branch2)
+    Assertions.assertThat(table.operations().current().metadataFileLocation())
+        .isNotNull().isEqualTo(metadataLocationOfCommit2);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Complex-ish test case that verifies that both the snapshot-ID and schema-ID are properly set
    * and retained when working with a mixture of DDLs and DMLs across multiple branches.