diff --git a/src/style/style.js b/src/style/style.js
index 4a5201a1682..c6ec6c1ddda 100644
--- a/src/style/style.js
+++ b/src/style/style.js
@@ -569,9 +569,11 @@ class Style extends Evented {
         layer.setEventedParent(this, {layer: {id: id}});
 
 
-        const beforeIndex = before ? this._order.indexOf(before) : -1;
-        const index = before && beforeIndex !== -1 ? beforeIndex : this._order.length;
-        if (before && beforeIndex === -1) util.warnOnce(`Layer with id "${before}" does not exist on this map. Adding layer to the top of the stack.`);
+        const index = before ? this._order.indexOf(before) : this._order.length;
+        if (before && index === -1) {
+            this.fire('error', { message: new Error(`Layer with id "${before}" does not exist on this map.`)});
+            return;
+        }
 
         this._order.splice(index, 0, id);
 
diff --git a/test/unit/style/style.test.js b/test/unit/style/style.test.js
index a25a7afaff0..2142dfaf365 100644
--- a/test/unit/style/style.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/style/style.test.js
@@ -1006,7 +1006,7 @@ test('Style#addLayer', (t) => {
         });
     });
 
-    t.test('warns if before layer does not exist', (t) => {
+    t.test('fire error if before layer does not exist', (t) => {
         const style = new Style(new StubMap());
         style.loadJSON(createStyleJSON({
             layers: [{
@@ -1018,13 +1018,13 @@ test('Style#addLayer', (t) => {
             }]
         }));
         const layer = {id: 'c', type: 'background'};
-        t.stub(util, 'warnOnce');
 
         style.on('style.load', () => {
+            style.on('error', (error)=>{
+                t.match(error.message, /does not exist on this map/);
+                t.end();
+            });
             style.addLayer(layer, 'z');
-            t.deepEqual(style._order, ['a', 'b', 'c']);
-            t.ok(util.warnOnce.calledOnce);
-            t.end();
         });
     });