diff --git a/src/transform/apply-gen.xsl b/src/transform/apply-gen.xsl
index 2802168..334bc56 100644
--- a/src/transform/apply-gen.xsl
+++ b/src/transform/apply-gen.xsl
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
       <text>hoxsl; please do not modify</text>
     </comment>
 
-    <out:stylesheet version="2.0">
+    <out:stylesheet version="{( @version, '2.0' )[ 1 ]}">
       <!-- namespaces might be referenced in strings (e.g. @as), and so may
            not be copied by default -->
       <sequence select="namespace::*[ name() ]" />
diff --git a/test/transform/apply-gen.xspec b/test/transform/apply-gen.xspec
index 9f4736b..08f8edb 100644
--- a/test/transform/apply-gen.xspec
+++ b/test/transform/apply-gen.xspec
@@ -40,6 +40,31 @@
   </variable>
 
 
+  <!-- while functions are only supported in version >=2, this could be run
+       on future versions, and we want to make sure that we don't break
+       anything -->
+  <scenario label="stylesheet version">
+    <scenario label="when provided">
+      <context>
+        <xsl:stylesheet version="7.05" />
+      </context>
+
+      <expect label="is copied to output"
+              test="xsl:stylesheet/@version = '7.05'" />
+    </scenario>
+
+
+    <scenario label="when empty">
+      <context>
+        <xsl:stylesheet />
+      </context>
+
+      <expect label="defaults to 2.0"
+              test="xsl:stylesheet/@version = '2.0'" />
+    </scenario>
+  </scenario>
+
+
   <!-- source namespaces must be copied -->
   <scenario label="source namespaces">
     <context>