diff --git a/doc/source/contributor/webapi-version-history.rst b/doc/source/contributor/webapi-version-history.rst
index f8ce878734..bb693f74ce 100644
--- a/doc/source/contributor/webapi-version-history.rst
+++ b/doc/source/contributor/webapi-version-history.rst
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Also added a new field ``allocation_uuid`` to the node resource.
 --------------------
 
 Added ``description`` field to the node object to enable operators to store
-any information relates to the node. The field is up to 4096 characters.
+any information relates to the node. The field is limited to 4096 characters.
 
 1.50 (Stein, master)
 --------------------
diff --git a/ironic/api/controllers/v1/node.py b/ironic/api/controllers/v1/node.py
index f9531cad2d..41fddd606e 100644
--- a/ironic/api/controllers/v1/node.py
+++ b/ironic/api/controllers/v1/node.py
@@ -2029,7 +2029,7 @@ class NodesController(rest.RestController):
 
         if (node.description is not wtypes.Unset and
                 len(node.description) > _NODE_DESCRIPTION_MAX_LENGTH):
-            msg = _("Cannot create node with description exceeds %s "
+            msg = _("Cannot create node with description exceeding %s "
                     "characters") % _NODE_DESCRIPTION_MAX_LENGTH
             raise exception.Invalid(msg)
 
@@ -2095,7 +2095,7 @@ class NodesController(rest.RestController):
 
         description = api_utils.get_patch_values(patch, '/description')
         if description and len(description[0]) > _NODE_DESCRIPTION_MAX_LENGTH:
-            msg = _("Cannot create node with description exceeds %s "
+            msg = _("Cannot update node with description exceeding %s "
                     "characters") % _NODE_DESCRIPTION_MAX_LENGTH
             raise exception.Invalid(msg)