diff --git a/packages/phoenix-evals/src/phoenix/evals/templates.py b/packages/phoenix-evals/src/phoenix/evals/templates.py
index b1b4496075..dc1ca8db57 100644
--- a/packages/phoenix-evals/src/phoenix/evals/templates.py
+++ b/packages/phoenix-evals/src/phoenix/evals/templates.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import re
+from collections import OrderedDict
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from enum import Enum
 from string import Formatter
@@ -149,7 +150,8 @@ def __init__(
         for _template in [self.template, self.explanation_template]:
             if _template:
                 self.variables.extend(self._parse_variables(template=_template))
-            self.variables = list(set(self.variables))
+            # remove duplicates while preserving order
+            self.variables = list(OrderedDict.fromkeys(self.variables))
 
         self._scores = scores