diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/components/GraphiteQueryEditor.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/components/GraphiteQueryEditor.tsx
index 3d5413717a3..cfa65a29086 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/components/GraphiteQueryEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/components/GraphiteQueryEditor.tsx
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ function GraphiteQueryEditorContent() {
         icon="pen"
         variant="secondary"
         aria-label="Toggle editor mode"
+        tooltip={state?.queryModel?.error}
         onClick={() => {
           dispatch(actions.toggleEditorMode());
         }}
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.test.ts
index de993ff6102..548797d7342 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.test.ts
@@ -744,6 +744,9 @@ describe('graphiteDatasource', () => {
           params: [{ multiple: true }],
         },
         updateText: () => {},
+        render: () => {
+          return '';
+        },
       }));
     });
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.ts
index 9998fe8980e..e8a6487a275 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/datasource.ts
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ export class GraphiteDatasource
         target: query.target || '',
         textEditor: false,
       },
-      getTemplateSrv()
+      this.templateSrv
     );
     graphiteQuery.parseTarget();
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/graphite_query.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/graphite_query.ts
index d3009ecb71f..5c23e83f695 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/graphite_query.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/graphite_query.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,21 @@ export default class GraphiteQuery {
 
     try {
       this.parseTargetRecursive(astNode, null);
+      if (this.target.target) {
+        const oldQuery = this.target.target;
+        const newQuery = this.generateQueryString();
+
+        // Spaces, quotes, and commas are used when rendering the AST back into a string.
+        // We are removing these for less false positives of query changes.
+        const sanitizeQuery = (o: string): string => o.replace(/\s|'|"|,/g, '');
+        const oldSanitized = sanitizeQuery(oldQuery);
+        const newSanitized = sanitizeQuery(newQuery);
+        if (oldSanitized && newSanitized && oldSanitized !== newSanitized) {
+          throw new Error(
+            `Failed to make a visual query builder query that is equivalent to the query.\nOriginal query: ${oldQuery}\nQuery builder query: ${newQuery}`
+          );
+        }
+      }
     } catch (err) {
       if (err instanceof Error) {
         console.error('error parsing target:', err.message);
@@ -181,16 +196,19 @@ export default class GraphiteQuery {
     arrayMove(this.functions, index, index + offset);
   }
 
-  updateModelTarget(targets: any) {
+  generateQueryString(): string {
     const wrapFunction = (target: string, func: FuncInstance) => {
       return func.render(target, (value: string) => {
         return this.templateSrv ? this.templateSrv.replace(value, this.scopedVars) : value;
       });
     };
+    const metricPath = this.getSegmentPathUpTo(this.segments.length).replace(/\.?select metric$/, '');
+    return reduce(this.functions, wrapFunction, metricPath);
+  }
 
+  updateModelTarget(targets: any) {
     if (!this.target.textEditor) {
-      const metricPath = this.getSegmentPathUpTo(this.segments.length).replace(/\.?select metric$/, '');
-      this.target.target = reduce(this.functions, wrapFunction, metricPath);
+      this.target.target = this.generateQueryString();
     }
 
     this.updateRenderedTarget(this.target, targets);
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/graphite_query.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/graphite_query.test.ts
index 5d5035c5dd6..e6e048e45de 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/graphite_query.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/graphite_query.test.ts
@@ -258,6 +258,20 @@ describe('Graphite query model', () => {
         ctx.queryModel.updateModelTarget(targets);
         expect(ctx.queryModel.target.target).toContain(nestedFunctionAsParam);
       });
+
+      //This is not preferred behavior. The query builder cannot parse `maxSeries(sum(testSeries1), sum(testSeries2))` and when it can, remove this test
+      it('should return an error when visual query builder query does not match raw query', () => {
+        jest.spyOn(console, 'error').mockImplementation();
+        ctx.target = {
+          refId: 'A',
+          target: 'maxSeries(sum(testSeries1), sum(testSeries2))',
+        };
+        ctx.targets = [ctx.target];
+        ctx.queryModel = new GraphiteQuery(ctx.datasource, ctx.target, ctx.templateSrv);
+        expect(ctx.queryModel.error).toBe(
+          'Failed to make a visual query builder query that is equivalent to the query.\nOriginal query: maxSeries(sum(testSeries1), sum(testSeries2))\nQuery builder query: maxSeries(sumSeries(sumSeries(testSeries1), testSeries2))'
+        );
+      });
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/store.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/store.ts
index 0081c2bd0ea..6df365d4eee 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/store.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/store.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { AnyAction } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
 import { Action, Dispatch } from 'redux';
 
 import { DataQuery, TimeRange } from '@grafana/data';
-import { getTemplateSrv } from '@grafana/runtime';
 
 import { TemplateSrv } from '../../../../features/templating/template_srv';
 import { GraphiteDatasource } from '../datasource';
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ const reducer = async (action: Action, state: GraphiteQueryEditorState): Promise
     state = {
       ...state,
       ...deps,
-      queryModel: new GraphiteQuery(deps.datasource, deps.target, getTemplateSrv()),
+      queryModel: new GraphiteQuery(deps.datasource, deps.target, state.templateSrv),
       supportsTags: deps.datasource.supportsTags,
       paused: false,
       removeTagValue: '-- remove tag --',