diff --git a/packages/grafana-ui/src/themes/selectThemeVariant.ts b/packages/grafana-ui/src/themes/selectThemeVariant.ts
index 95b80b04047..8747a15d5c0 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-ui/src/themes/selectThemeVariant.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-ui/src/themes/selectThemeVariant.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ import { GrafanaThemeType } from '@grafana/data';
 
 type VariantDescriptor = { [key in GrafanaThemeType]: string | number };
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated use theme.isLight ? or theme.isDark instead
+ */
 export const selectThemeVariant = (variants: VariantDescriptor, currentTheme?: GrafanaThemeType) => {
   return variants[currentTheme || GrafanaThemeType.Dark];
 };