diff --git a/src/common/libkvs/test/kvs_dir.c b/src/common/libkvs/test/kvs_dir.c
index ece3f40ee8ed..cc51f5704d76 100644
--- a/src/common/libkvs/test/kvs_dir.c
+++ b/src/common/libkvs/test/kvs_dir.c
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ void test_empty (void)
     errno = 0;
     dir = kvsdir_create (NULL, NULL, "foo",
                          "{\"data\":\"MQA=\",\"type\":\"FOO\",\"ver\":1}");
+    ok (dir == NULL && errno == EINVAL,
+        "kvsdir_create with invalid treeobj fails with EINVAL");
+
+    errno = 0;
+    dir = kvsdir_create (NULL, NULL, "foo",
+                         "{\"data\":\"MQA=\",\"type\":\"val\",\"ver\":1}");
     ok (dir == NULL && errno == EINVAL,
         "kvsdir_create with non-dir treeobj fails with EINVAL");