diff --git a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsWriter.java b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsWriter.java
index 9b957f2f13b5..f3febe8c5c91 100644
--- a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsWriter.java
+++ b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsWriter.java
@@ -639,10 +639,7 @@ public void addValue(int docID, Object value) throws IOException {
       assert docID > lastDocID;
       docsWithField.add(docID);
       vectors.add(copyValue(vectorValue));
-      if (node > 0) {
-        // start at node 1! node 0 is added implicitly, in the constructor
-        hnswGraphBuilder.addGraphNode(node, vectorValue);
-      }
+      hnswGraphBuilder.addGraphNode(node, vectorValue);
       node++;
       lastDocID = docID;
     }