diff --git a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
index a4071de14f..4a2abad384 100644
--- a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ All notable changes to experimental packages in this project will be documented
 
 ### :bug: (Bug Fix)
 
+* fix(sdk-node): register context manager if no tracer options are provided [#4781](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/4781) @pichlermarc
+
 ### :books: (Refine Doc)
 
 ### :house: (Internal)
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/src/sdk.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/src/sdk.ts
index d26ffea4ef..7cb02a2120 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/src/sdk.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/src/sdk.ts
@@ -247,7 +247,10 @@ export class NodeSDK {
     }
 
     tracerProvider.register({
-      contextManager: this._tracerProviderConfig?.contextManager,
+      contextManager:
+        this._tracerProviderConfig?.contextManager ??
+        // _tracerProviderConfig may be undefined if trace-specific settings are not provided - fall back to raw config
+        this._configuration?.contextManager,
       propagator: this._tracerProviderConfig?.textMapPropagator,
     });
 
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/test/sdk.test.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/test/sdk.test.ts
index 22e1794ccc..12cf964f20 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/test/sdk.test.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-node/test/sdk.test.ts
@@ -325,6 +325,22 @@ describe('Node SDK', () => {
       await sdk.shutdown();
       delete env.OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER;
     });
+
+    it('should register a context manager if only a context manager is provided', async () => {
+      // arrange
+      const expectedContextManager = new AsyncHooksContextManager();
+      const sdk = new NodeSDK({
+        contextManager: expectedContextManager,
+      });
+
+      // act
+      sdk.start();
+
+      // assert
+      const actualContextManager = context['_getContextManager']();
+      assert.equal(actualContextManager, expectedContextManager);
+      await sdk.shutdown();
+    });
   });
 
   async function waitForNumberOfMetrics(