diff --git a/pkg/sql/catalog/lease/lease.go b/pkg/sql/catalog/lease/lease.go
index fde769b15e19..33b136e01f7f 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/catalog/lease/lease.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/catalog/lease/lease.go
@@ -1117,7 +1117,7 @@ func (m *Manager) findDescriptorState(id descpb.ID, create bool) *descriptorStat
 // rangefeeds. This function must be passed a non-nil gossip if
 // RangefeedLeases is not active.
 func (m *Manager) RefreshLeases(ctx context.Context, s *stop.Stopper, db *kv.DB) {
-	descUpdateCh := make(chan *descpb.Descriptor)
+	descUpdateCh := make(chan catalog.Descriptor)
 	m.watchForUpdates(ctx, descUpdateCh)
 	_ = s.RunAsyncTask(ctx, "refresh-leases", func(ctx context.Context) {
 		for {
@@ -1130,28 +1130,49 @@ func (m *Manager) RefreshLeases(ctx context.Context, s *stop.Stopper, db *kv.DB)
 				}
 
 				if evFunc := m.testingKnobs.TestingDescriptorUpdateEvent; evFunc != nil {
-					if err := evFunc(desc); err != nil {
+					if err := evFunc(desc.DescriptorProto()); err != nil {
 						log.Infof(ctx, "skipping update of %v due to knob: %v",
 							desc, err)
 						continue
 					}
 				}
 
-				id, version, name, state, err := descpb.GetDescriptorMetadata(desc)
-				if err != nil {
-					log.Fatalf(ctx, "invalid descriptor %v: %v", desc, err)
-				}
-				dropped := state == descpb.DescriptorState_DROP
+				dropped := desc.Dropped()
 				// Try to refresh the lease to one >= this version.
 				log.VEventf(ctx, 2, "purging old version of descriptor %d@%d (dropped %v)",
-					id, version, dropped)
-				if err := purgeOldVersions(ctx, db, id, dropped, version, m); err != nil {
-					log.Warningf(ctx, "error purging leases for descriptor %d(%s): %s",
-						id, name, err)
+					desc.GetID(), desc.GetVersion(), dropped)
+				purge := func(ctx context.Context) {
+					if err := purgeOldVersions(ctx, db, desc.GetID(), dropped, desc.GetVersion(), m); err != nil {
+						log.Warningf(ctx, "error purging leases for descriptor %d(%s): %s",
+							desc.GetID(), desc.GetName(), err)
+					}
+				}
+				// New descriptors may appear in the future if the descriptor table is
+				// global or if the transaction which performed the schema change wrote
+				// to a global table. Attempts to acquire a lease after that new
+				// version has appeared won't acquire the latest version, they'll
+				// acquire the previous version because they'll occur at "now".
+				//
+				// That, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is that we
+				// may release the lease on the current version before we can start
+				// acquiring the lease on the new version. This could lead to periods
+				// of increased latency right as the descriptor has been committed.
+				if now := db.Clock().Now(); now.Less(desc.GetModificationTime()) {
+					_ = s.RunAsyncTask(ctx, "wait to purge", func(ctx context.Context) {
+						toWait := time.Duration(desc.GetModificationTime().WallTime - now.WallTime)
+						select {
+						case <-time.After(toWait):
+							purge(ctx)
+						case <-ctx.Done():
+						case <-s.ShouldQuiesce():
+						}
+					})
+				} else {
+					purge(ctx)
 				}
 
 				if evFunc := m.testingKnobs.TestingDescriptorRefreshedEvent; evFunc != nil {
-					evFunc(desc)
+					evFunc(desc.DescriptorProto())
 				}
 
 			case <-s.ShouldQuiesce():
@@ -1163,7 +1184,7 @@ func (m *Manager) RefreshLeases(ctx context.Context, s *stop.Stopper, db *kv.DB)
 
 // watchForUpdates will watch a rangefeed on the system.descriptor table for
 // updates.
-func (m *Manager) watchForUpdates(ctx context.Context, descUpdateCh chan<- *descpb.Descriptor) {
+func (m *Manager) watchForUpdates(ctx context.Context, descUpdateCh chan<- catalog.Descriptor) {
 	if log.V(1) {
 		log.Infof(ctx, "using rangefeeds for lease manager updates")
 	}
@@ -1193,7 +1214,7 @@ func (m *Manager) watchForUpdates(ctx context.Context, descUpdateCh chan<- *desc
 		}
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
-		case descUpdateCh <- mut.DescriptorProto():
+		case descUpdateCh <- mut:
 		}
 	}
 	// Ignore errors here because they indicate that the server is shutting down.