diff --git a/beetsplug/musicbrainz.py b/beetsplug/musicbrainz.py
index 57656b956..2b9d5e9c2 100644
--- a/beetsplug/musicbrainz.py
+++ b/beetsplug/musicbrainz.py
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ def _merge_pseudo_and_actual_album(
 class MusicBrainzPlugin(MetadataSourcePlugin):
     @cached_property
     def genres_field(self) -> str:
-        return f"{config['musicbrainz']['genres_tag'].get()}-list"
+        return f"{self.config['genres_tag'].as_choice(['genre', 'tag'])}-list"
 
     def __init__(self):
         """Set up the python-musicbrainz-ngs module according to settings
diff --git a/docs/plugins/musicbrainz.rst b/docs/plugins/musicbrainz.rst
index ac6d7a7d6..7fe436c2c 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/musicbrainz.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/musicbrainz.rst
@@ -137,11 +137,11 @@ Default
     ``beatport_album_id``, ``deezer_album_id``, ``tidal_album_id``). On re-imports
     existing data will be overwritten.
 
-.. conf:: _genres_tag
-    :default: genres
+.. conf:: genres_tag
+    :default: genre
 
-    Either ``genres`` or ``tags``. Specify ``genres`` to use just musicbrainz genres and
-    ``tags`` to use all user-supplied musicbrainz tags.
+    Either ``genre`` or ``tag``. Specify ``genre`` to use just musicbrainz genre and
+    ``tag`` to use all user-supplied musicbrainz tags.
 
 .. include:: ./shared_metadata_source_config.rst