diff --git a/git/config.py b/git/config.py
index 71d7ea689..e05a297af 100644
--- a/git/config.py
+++ b/git/config.py
@@ -796,6 +796,7 @@ def get_values(
         :raise TypeError: in case the value could not be understood
             Otherwise the exceptions known to the ConfigParser will be raised."""
         try:
+            self.sections()
             lst = self._sections[section].getall(option)
         except Exception:
             if default is not None:
diff --git a/test/test_config.py b/test/test_config.py
index 8bb2aa306..b159ebe2d 100644
--- a/test/test_config.py
+++ b/test/test_config.py
@@ -398,6 +398,17 @@ def test_empty_config_value(self):
         with self.assertRaises(cp.NoOptionError):
             cr.get_value("color", "ui")
 
+    def test_get_values_works_without_requiring_any_other_calls_first(self):
+        file_obj = self._to_memcache(fixture_path("git_config_multiple"))
+        cr = GitConfigParser(file_obj, read_only=True)
+        self.assertEqual(cr.get_values("section0", "option0"), ["value0"])
+        file_obj.seek(0)
+        cr = GitConfigParser(file_obj, read_only=True)
+        self.assertEqual(cr.get_values("section1", "option1"), ["value1a", "value1b"])
+        file_obj.seek(0)
+        cr = GitConfigParser(file_obj, read_only=True)
+        self.assertEqual(cr.get_values("section1", "other_option1"), ["other_value1"])
+
     def test_multiple_values(self):
         file_obj = self._to_memcache(fixture_path("git_config_multiple"))
         with GitConfigParser(file_obj, read_only=False) as cw: