diff --git a/dwave/optimization/src/nodes/collections.cpp b/dwave/optimization/src/nodes/collections.cpp
index 2711c1f7..984044b0 100644
--- a/dwave/optimization/src/nodes/collections.cpp
+++ b/dwave/optimization/src/nodes/collections.cpp
@@ -835,7 +835,7 @@ ssize_t DisjointListNode::size_diff(const State& state) const {
 }
 
 void ListNode::initialize_state(State& state) const {
-    emplace_data_ptr<CollectionStateData>(state, max_size_);
+    emplace_data_ptr<CollectionStateData>(state, max_value_, min_size_);
 }
 
 void SetNode::initialize_state(State& state) const {
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-list-node-max-size-smaller-than-n-5702a91cb4a6eedc.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-list-node-max-size-smaller-than-n-5702a91cb4a6eedc.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5584058a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-list-node-max-size-smaller-than-n-5702a91cb4a6eedc.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fix an issue with ``ListVariable``s with a maximum size set to less than
+    ``n``, the size of the main set. In this case the underlying node's state
+    was not initialized correctly causing some valid operations to later fail.
diff --git a/tests/cpp/nodes/test_collections.cpp b/tests/cpp/nodes/test_collections.cpp
index 533fb55c..eebeeaa2 100644
--- a/tests/cpp/nodes/test_collections.cpp
+++ b/tests/cpp/nodes/test_collections.cpp
@@ -446,6 +446,68 @@ TEST_CASE("ListNode") {
         CHECK(sizeinfo.min == 0);
         CHECK(sizeinfo.max == 0);
     }
+
+    GIVEN("A list(10, min_size=2, max_size=5)") {
+        auto l_ptr = graph.emplace_node<ListNode>(10, 2, 5);
+
+        // Add a validation node
+        graph.emplace_node<ArrayValidationNode>(l_ptr);
+
+        WHEN("We default-initialize the state") {
+            auto state = graph.initialize_state();
+
+            THEN("The node's state defaults to range(2)") {
+                CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->view(state), RangeEquals({0, 1}));
+                CHECK(l_ptr->size(state) == 2);
+                CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->shape(state), RangeEquals({2}));
+            }
+        }
+
+        WHEN("We initialize the state to the max size") {
+            auto state = graph.empty_state();
+            l_ptr->initialize_state(state, {0, 1, 2, 3, 4});
+            graph.initialize_state(state);
+
+            THEN("The node's state is correct") {
+                CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->view(state), RangeEquals({0, 1, 2, 3, 4}));
+                CHECK(l_ptr->size(state) == 5);
+                CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->shape(state), RangeEquals({5}));
+            }
+
+            AND_WHEN("We then mutate the node and propagate") {
+                l_ptr->exchange(state, 1, 3);  // [0 3 2 1 4]
+                l_ptr->exchange(state, 1, 2);  // [0 2 3 1 4]
+                l_ptr->shrink(state);          // [0 2 3 1]
+                l_ptr->shrink(state);          // [0 2 3]
+                l_ptr->exchange(state, 0, 7);  // [7 2 3]
+                l_ptr->grow(state);            // [7 2 3 1]
+
+                graph.propagate(state, graph.descendants(state, {l_ptr}));
+
+                THEN("The node's state reflects the relevant changes") {
+                    CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->view(state), RangeEquals({7, 2, 3, 1}));
+                }
+
+                AND_WHEN("We commit") {
+                    graph.commit(state, graph.descendants(state, {l_ptr}));
+
+                    THEN("The changes persist") {
+                        CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->view(state), RangeEquals({7, 2, 3, 1}));
+                        CHECK(l_ptr->diff(state).size() == 0);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                AND_WHEN("We revert") {
+                    graph.revert(state, graph.descendants(state, {l_ptr}));
+
+                    THEN("The changes are undone") {
+                        CHECK_THAT(l_ptr->view(state), RangeEquals({0, 1, 2, 3, 4}));
+                        CHECK(l_ptr->diff(state).size() == 0);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 TEST_CASE("SetNode") {