diff --git a/lucene/queries/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queries/payloads/PayloadScoreQuery.java b/lucene/queries/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queries/payloads/PayloadScoreQuery.java
index 7c4541027791..72d6622b4e30 100644
--- a/lucene/queries/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queries/payloads/PayloadScoreQuery.java
+++ b/lucene/queries/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queries/payloads/PayloadScoreQuery.java
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.search.ScorerSupplier;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 
-/** A Query class that uses a {@link PayloadFunction} to modify the score of a wrapped SpanQuery */
+/**
+ * A Query class that uses a {@link PayloadFunction} to modify the score of a wrapped {@link
+ * SpanQuery}. A wrapped span query is used due to the way that payload values are indexed, see
+ * {@link PostingsEnum#PAYLOADS}.
+ */
 public class PayloadScoreQuery extends SpanQuery {
 
   private final SpanQuery wrappedQuery;