diff --git a/sklearn/tree/tree.py b/sklearn/tree/tree.py
index 5b32a2468506f..f63537f4bfdeb 100644
--- a/sklearn/tree/tree.py
+++ b/sklearn/tree/tree.py
@@ -185,14 +185,16 @@ def fit(self, X, y, sample_weight=None, check_input=True,
 
         if isinstance(self.min_samples_split, (numbers.Integral, np.integer)):
             if not 2 <= self.min_samples_split:
-                raise ValueError("min_samples_split must be at least 2 "
-                                 "or in (0, 1.0], got %s"
+                raise ValueError("min_samples_split must be an integer "
+                                 "greater than 1 or a float in (0.0, 1.0]; "
+                                 "got the integer %s"
                                  % self.min_samples_split)
             min_samples_split = self.min_samples_split
         else:  # float
             if not 0. < self.min_samples_split <= 1.:
-                raise ValueError("min_samples_split must be at least 2 "
-                                 "or in (0, 1.0], got %s"
+                raise ValueError("min_samples_split must be an integer "
+                                 "greater than 1 or a float in (0.0, 1.0]; "
+                                 "got the float %s"
                                  % self.min_samples_split)
             min_samples_split = int(ceil(self.min_samples_split * n_samples))
             min_samples_split = max(2, min_samples_split)