diff --git a/lisp/ob-emacs-lisp.el b/lisp/ob-emacs-lisp.el
index 7409b61d0..e89bbae8c 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-emacs-lisp.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-emacs-lisp.el
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ by `org-edit-src-code'.")
 				 (concat "(pp " body ")")
 			       body))
 		       (org-babel-emacs-lisp-lexical lexical))))
-    (when session (error "ob-emacs-lisp backend does not support sessions"))
+    (when (and session (not (equal session "none")))
+      (error "ob-emacs-lisp backend does not support sessions"))
     (org-babel-result-cond result-params
       (let ((print-level nil)
             (print-length nil))