diff --git a/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtsort.c b/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtsort.c
index fb4a80bf1d..060e0171a5 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtsort.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtsort.c
@@ -627,7 +627,8 @@ _bt_blwritepage(BTWriteState *wstate, Page page, BlockNumber blkno)
 	 * we don't bother identifying the case precisely.
 	 */
 	if (wstate->btws_use_wal ||
-		(blkno == BTREE_METAPAGE && BTPageGetMeta(page)->btm_root == 0))
+		(RelationNeedsWAL(wstate->index) &&
+		 (blkno == BTREE_METAPAGE && BTPageGetMeta(page)->btm_root == 0)))
 	{
 		/* We use the heap NEWPAGE record type for this */
 		log_newpage(&wstate->index->rd_node, MAIN_FORKNUM, blkno, page, true);
@@ -1071,11 +1072,6 @@ _bt_uppershutdown(BTWriteState *wstate, BTPageState *state)
 	 * set to point to "P_NONE").  This changes the index to the "valid" state
 	 * by filling in a valid magic number in the metapage.
 	 */
-	/*
-	 * If no tuple was inserted, it's possible that we are truncating a
-	 * relation. We need to emit WAL for the metapage in the case. However it
-	 * is not required elsewise,
-	 */
 	metapage = (Page) palloc(BLCKSZ);
 	_bt_initmetapage(metapage, rootblkno, rootlevel);
 	_bt_blwritepage(wstate, metapage, BTREE_METAPAGE);