diff --git a/src/xslt/xslt.ts b/src/xslt/xslt.ts
index 4df61ff..484601d 100644
--- a/src/xslt/xslt.ts
+++ b/src/xslt/xslt.ts
@@ -1324,6 +1324,8 @@ export class Xslt {
 
             for (const t of expandedTemplates) {
                 try {
+                    // For initial template selection, evaluate patterns from document root
+                    // without axis override to ensure consistent matching for all patterns
                     // For initial template selection, evaluate patterns from document root
                     // without axis override to ensure consistent matching for all patterns
                     const matchedNodes = this.xsltMatch(t.matchPattern, contextClone);
@@ -1440,13 +1442,30 @@ export class Xslt {
 
     protected xsltValueOf(context: ExprContext, template: XNode, output?: XNode) {
         const select = xmlGetAttribute(template, 'select');
-        const attribute = this.xPath.xPathEval(select, context);
+        const current = context.nodeList[context.position];
+
+        // First try evaluating in the current context. If that returns an
+        // empty result and the current node is the document node, try again
+        // evaluating against the document element (fallback), which helps
+        // with some templates written to expect either form.
+        let attribute = this.xPath.xPathEval(select, context);
+        if (
+            current &&
+            current.nodeName === '#document' &&
+            (attribute.stringValue() === '' || (attribute instanceof NodeSetValue && attribute.nodeSetValue().length === 0))
+        ) {
+            const docChild = current.childNodes.find((c: XNode) => c.nodeName !== '#dtd-section');
+            if (docChild) {
+                const fallbackContext = context.clone([docChild], 0);
+                attribute = this.xPath.xPathEval(select, fallbackContext);
+            }
+        }
+
         const value = attribute.stringValue();
         const node = domCreateTextNode(this.outputDocument, value);
         // Set siblingPosition to preserve insertion order during serialization
         const targetOutput = output || this.outputDocument;
         node.siblingPosition = targetOutput.childNodes.length;
-
         targetOutput.appendChild(node);
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/xslt/value-of.test.ts b/tests/xslt/value-of.test.ts
index 490d7a4..59a3b91 100644
--- a/tests/xslt/value-of.test.ts
+++ b/tests/xslt/value-of.test.ts
@@ -35,4 +35,29 @@ describe('xsl:value-of', () => {
 
         assert.equal(outXmlString, `<h1>Fergie's Web Feed Preview</h1>`);
     });
+
+        it('XSLT template with text on both sides (issue 109)', async () => {
+                const xmlString = `<root>
+                    <test name="test1">This text lost</test>
+                </root>`;
+
+                const xsltString = `<?xml version="1.0"?>
+                <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
+                    <xsl:output method="xml"/>
+                    <xsl:template match="/">
+                        <span>X<xsl:value-of select="test/@name" />Y</span>
+                    </xsl:template>
+                </xsl:stylesheet>`;
+
+                const expectedOutString = `<span>Xtest1Y</span>`;
+
+                const xsltClass = new Xslt();
+                const xmlParser = new XmlParser();
+                const xml = xmlParser.xmlParse(xmlString);
+                const xslt = xmlParser.xmlParse(xsltString);
+
+                const outXmlString = await xsltClass.xsltProcess(xml, xslt);
+
+                assert.equal(outXmlString, expectedOutString);
+        });
 });