diff --git a/jquery.select-to-autocomplete.js b/jquery.select-to-autocomplete.js
index f298925..35fac3e 100644
--- a/jquery.select-to-autocomplete.js
+++ b/jquery.select-to-autocomplete.js
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
             attrs[key] = raw_attrs[i].nodeValue;
           }
         };
+        $text_field.attr( attrs );
       }
-      return $text_field.attr( attrs )
-        .val( $select_field.find('option:selected:first').text() )
+      return $text_field.val( $select_field.find('option:selected:first').text() )
         .insertAfter( $select_field );
     },
     extract_options: function( $select_field ) {