diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/config.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/config.py
index 379a2985d9..4e08d48c69 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/config.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/config.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from PyQt5.Qt import (QWidget, QGridLayout, QGroupBox, QListView, Qt, QSpinBox,
         QDoubleSpinBox, QCheckBox, QLineEdit, QComboBox, QLabel)
 
 from calibre.gui2.preferences.metadata_sources import FieldsModel as FM
+from calibre.utils.icu import sort_key
 
 
 class FieldsModel(FM):  # {{{
@@ -99,7 +100,9 @@ class ConfigWidget(QWidget):
             widget.setChecked(bool(val))
         elif opt.type == 'choices':
             widget = QComboBox(self)
-            for key, label in opt.choices.iteritems():
+            items = list(opt.choices.iteritems())
+            items.sort(key=lambda (k, v): sort_key(v))
+            for key, label in items:
                 widget.addItem(label, (key))
             idx = widget.findData((val))
             widget.setCurrentIndex(idx)
@@ -130,5 +133,3 @@ class ConfigWidget(QWidget):
                 idx = w.currentIndex()
                 val = unicode(w.itemData(idx) or '')
             self.plugin.prefs[w.opt.name] = val
-
-