diff --git a/instrumentation/spring/spring-webmvc/spring-webmvc-5.3/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/webmvc/v5_3/internal/SpringMvcBuilderUtil.java b/instrumentation/spring/spring-webmvc/spring-webmvc-5.3/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/webmvc/v5_3/internal/SpringMvcBuilderUtil.java
index 03e07e533825..74ac99e33d8a 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring/spring-webmvc/spring-webmvc-5.3/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/webmvc/v5_3/internal/SpringMvcBuilderUtil.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring/spring-webmvc/spring-webmvc-5.3/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/webmvc/v5_3/internal/SpringMvcBuilderUtil.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 public final class SpringMvcBuilderUtil {
   private SpringMvcBuilderUtil() {}
 
+  // allows access to the private field for the spring starter
   private static Function<
           SpringWebMvcTelemetryBuilder,
           DefaultHttpServerInstrumenterBuilder<HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse>>