diff --git a/pkg/ingester/ingester_test.go b/pkg/ingester/ingester_test.go
index bf7922fb61dfc..94fd5700c6809 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/ingester_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/ingester_test.go
@@ -405,11 +405,14 @@ func TestIngesterStreamLimitExceeded(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	req.Streams[0].Labels = `{foo="bar",bar="baz2"}`
+	// The labels in error messages are sorted lexicographically and cleaned up via Push -> ParseLabels.
+	expectedLabels, _ := syntax.ParseLabels(req.Streams[0].Labels)
 
 	_, err = i.Push(ctx, &req)
 	if resp, ok := httpgrpc.HTTPResponseFromError(err); !ok || resp.Code != http.StatusTooManyRequests {
 		t.Fatalf("expected error about exceeding metrics per user, got %v", err)
 	}
+	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), expectedLabels.String())
 }
 
 type mockStore struct {
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/instance.go b/pkg/ingester/instance.go
index 18350da22eb08..7e9112fad146b 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/instance.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/instance.go
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ func (i *instance) createStream(ctx context.Context, pushReqStream logproto.Stre
 		if i.customStreamsTracker != nil {
 			i.customStreamsTracker.DiscardedBytesAdd(ctx, i.instanceID, validation.StreamLimit, labels, float64(bytes))
 		}
-		return nil, httpgrpc.Errorf(http.StatusTooManyRequests, validation.StreamLimitErrorMsg, i.instanceID)
+		return nil, httpgrpc.Errorf(http.StatusTooManyRequests, validation.StreamLimitErrorMsg, labels, i.instanceID)
 	}
 
 	fp := i.getHashForLabels(labels)
diff --git a/pkg/validation/validate.go b/pkg/validation/validate.go
index 4b02505b98e54..0f39ae039cc02 100644
--- a/pkg/validation/validate.go
+++ b/pkg/validation/validate.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ const (
 	// StreamLimit is a reason for discarding lines when we can't create a new stream
 	// because the limit of active streams has been reached.
 	StreamLimit         = "stream_limit"
-	StreamLimitErrorMsg = "Maximum active stream limit exceeded, reduce the number of active streams (reduce labels or reduce label values), or contact your Loki administrator to see if the limit can be increased, user: '%s'"
+	StreamLimitErrorMsg = "Maximum active stream limit exceeded when trying to create stream %s, reduce the number of active streams (reduce labels or reduce label values), or contact your Loki administrator to see if the limit can be increased, user: '%s'"
 	// StreamRateLimit is a reason for discarding lines when the streams own rate limit is hit
 	// rather than the overall ingestion rate limit.
 	StreamRateLimit = "per_stream_rate_limit"