diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9cd7df7..5694d20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -214,6 +214,9 @@ In this mode, you can use sbt-version-policy to check that incoming pull request
        import sbtversionpolicy.withsbtrelease.ReleaseVersion
        releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromCompatibility(versionPolicyIntention.value)
        ~~~
+       The `releaseVersion` function bumps the release version according to the compatibility guarantees defined
+       by `versionPolicyIntention`. Optionally, you can also define a _qualifier_ to append to the release version
+       by setting the environment variable `VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER` (e.g., `VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER=RC1`).
     2. Reset `versionPolicyIntention` to `Compatibility.BinaryAndSourceCompatible` after every release.
        This can be achieved by managing the setting `versionPolicyIntention` in a separate file (like [sbt-release] manages the setting `version` in a separate file, by default), and by adding a step that overwrites the content of that file and commits it.
 
@@ -245,8 +248,13 @@ In this mode, you can use sbt-version-policy to assess the incompatibilities int
      ReleaseVersion.fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease().value
    }
    ~~~
+   In both cases, the `releaseVersion` function sets the release version according to the compatibility level
+   with the latest release. Optionally, you can also define a _qualifier_ to append to the release version
+   by setting the environment variable `VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER` (e.g., `VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER="-RC1"`).
 
-Note that this mode can be enabled only _after_ the first release of the project has already been published.
+Note that for the first release you have to set the release version yourself via the file `version.sbt` (e.g., set
+`1.0.0-SNAPSHOT` or `0.1.0-SNAPSHOT`). This is because `sbt-version-policy` needs a previous release to exist to be
+able to assess the compatibility level of the current state of the project with that release.
 
 ##### Example
 
diff --git a/sbt-version-policy/src/main/scala/sbtversionpolicy/withsbtrelease/ReleaseVersion.scala b/sbt-version-policy/src/main/scala/sbtversionpolicy/withsbtrelease/ReleaseVersion.scala
index 8181e2e..6ac01b6 100644
--- a/sbt-version-policy/src/main/scala/sbtversionpolicy/withsbtrelease/ReleaseVersion.scala
+++ b/sbt-version-policy/src/main/scala/sbtversionpolicy/withsbtrelease/ReleaseVersion.scala
@@ -4,17 +4,21 @@ import sbtversionpolicy.Compatibility
 import sbtversionpolicy.SbtVersionPolicyPlugin.aggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease
 import sbtversionpolicy.SbtVersionPolicyPlugin.autoImport.versionPolicyAssessCompatibility
 import sbt.*
+import sbtversionpolicy.SbtVersionPolicyMima.autoImport.versionPolicyPreviousVersions
 
 /** Convenient methods to integrate with the plugin sbt-release */
 object ReleaseVersion {
 
+  private val qualifierVariableName = "VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER"
+
   /**
    * @return a [release version function](https://github.com/sbt/sbt-release?tab=readme-ov-file#custom-versioning)
    *         that bumps the patch, minor, or major version number depending on the provided
    *         compatibility level.
-   * @param qualifier Optional qualifier to append to the version (e.g. `"-RC1"`). Empty by default.
+   * @param qualifier Optional qualifier to append to the version (e.g. `"-RC1"`). By default, it tries to read
+   *                  it from the environment variable VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER.
    */
-  def fromCompatibility(compatibility: Compatibility, qualifier: String = ""): String => String = {
+  def fromCompatibility(compatibility: Compatibility, qualifier: String = sys.env.getOrElse(qualifierVariableName, "")): String => String = {
     val maybeBump =
       compatibility match {
         case Compatibility.None => Some(Version.Bump.Major)
@@ -31,10 +35,29 @@ object ReleaseVersion {
           case Some(bump) => versionWithoutQualifier.bump(bump)
           case None => versionWithoutQualifier
         }).string
-      s"${bumpedVersion}${qualifier}"
+      bumpedVersion + qualifier
     }
   }
 
+  private def fromAssessedCompatibility(qualifier: String)(assessCompatibility: Def.Initialize[Task[Compatibility]]): Def.Initialize[Task[String => String]] =
+    Def.ifS(Def.task {
+      versionPolicyPreviousVersions.value.isEmpty
+    })(Def.task {
+      // If there are no previous versions to assess the compatibility with,
+      // fallback to the default release version function, which drops the qualifier
+      // from the version set in the file `version.sbt`
+      // (e.g., "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT" => "1.0.0")
+      (version: String) =>
+        Version(version)
+          .map(_.withoutQualifier.string + qualifier)
+          .getOrElse(Version.formatError(version))
+    })(Def.task {
+      val log = Keys.streams.value.log
+      val compatibility = assessCompatibility.value
+      log.debug(s"Compatibility level is ${compatibility}")
+      fromCompatibility(compatibility, qualifier)
+    })
+
   /**
    * Task returning a [release version function](https://github.com/sbt/sbt-release?tab=readme-ov-file#custom-versioning)
    * based on the assessed compatibility level of the project.
@@ -44,26 +67,27 @@ object ReleaseVersion {
    * {{{
    *   import sbtversionpolicy.withsbtrelease.ReleaseVersion
    *
-   *   releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease.value
+   *   releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease().value
    * }}}
    *
    * sbt-release uses the `releaseVersion` function to set the version before publishing a release (at step
    * `setReleaseVersion`). It reads the current `version` (usually defined in a file `version.sbt`, and looking
    * like `"1.2.3-SNAPSHOT"`), and applies the function to it.
    *
-   * @param qualifier Optional qualifier to append to the version (e.g. `"-RC1"`). Empty by default.
+   * @param qualifier Optional qualifier to append to the version (e.g. `"-RC1"`). By default, it tries to read
+   *                  it from the environment variable VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER.
    */
-  def fromAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease(qualifier: String = ""): Def.Initialize[Task[String => String]] =
-    Def.task {
+  def fromAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease(
+    qualifier: String = sys.env.getOrElse(qualifierVariableName, "")
+  ): Def.Initialize[Task[String => String]] =
+    fromAssessedCompatibility(qualifier)(Def.task {
       val compatibilityResults = versionPolicyAssessCompatibility.value
-      val log = Keys.streams.value.log
       val compatibilityWithLatestRelease =
         compatibilityResults.headOption
-          .getOrElse(throw new MessageOnlyException("Unable to assess the compatibility level of this project. Is 'versionPolicyPreviousVersions' defined?"))
+          .getOrElse(throw new MessageOnlyException("Unable to assess the compatibility level of this project."))
       val (_, compatibility) = compatibilityWithLatestRelease
-      log.debug(s"Compatibility level is ${compatibility}")
-      fromCompatibility(compatibility, qualifier)
-    }
+      compatibility
+    })
 
   /**
    * Task returning a [release version function](https://github.com/sbt/sbt-release?tab=readme-ov-file#custom-versioning)
@@ -80,20 +104,20 @@ object ReleaseVersion {
    *       .in(file("."))
    *       .aggregate(mySubproject1, mySubproject2)
    *       .settings(
-   *         releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease.value
+   *         releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease().value
    *       )
    * }}}
    *
    * sbt-release uses the `releaseVersion` function to set the version before publishing a release (at step
    * `setReleaseVersion`). It reads the current `version` (usually defined in a file `version.sbt`, and looking
    * like `"1.2.3-SNAPSHOT"`), and applies the function to it.
+   *
+   * @param qualifier Optional qualifier to append to the version (e.g. `"-RC1"`). By default, it tries to read
+   *                  it from the environment variable VERSION_POLICY_RELEASE_QUALIFIER.
    */
-  def fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease(qualifier: String = ""): Def.Initialize[Task[String => String]] =
-    Def.task {
-      val log = Keys.streams.value.log
-      val compatibility = aggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease.value
-      log.debug(s"Aggregated compatibility level is ${compatibility}")
-      fromCompatibility(compatibility, qualifier)
-    }
+  def fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease(
+    qualifier: String = sys.env.getOrElse(qualifierVariableName, "")
+  ): Def.Initialize[Task[String => String]] =
+    fromAssessedCompatibility(qualifier)(aggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease)
 
 }
diff --git a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/build.sbt b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/build.sbt
index 249b396..8479228 100644
--- a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/build.sbt
+++ b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/build.sbt
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ val module =
 val root = project.in(file("."))
   .aggregate(module)
   .settings(
+    // Tell sbt-release to set the release version based on the level of compatibility with the previous release
+    releaseVersion := ReleaseVersion.fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease().value,
     // Custom release process for testing purpose only: the artifacts are locally published,
     // and we don’t push to the remote repository.
     releaseProcess := Seq[ReleaseStep](
diff --git a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/test b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/test
index 07b9299..f787c39 100644
--- a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/test
+++ b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/test
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ $ exec git commit -m "Initial commit"
 > reload
 
 # First release
-> release with-defaults release-version 1.0.0
+> release with-defaults
 > checkTag_1_0_0
 > reload
 
@@ -17,13 +17,6 @@ $ copy-file file-to-add.template module/src/main/scala/org/organization/module/N
 $ exec git add module/src/main/scala/org/organization/module/NewAPI.scala
 $ exec git commit -m "Some hard work"
 
-# Configure releaseVersion to bump the patch, minor, or major version number according
-# to the assessed compatibility level.
-# In practice, you would assign the releaseVersion in your build.sbt.
-# Here, we show how to optionally add a qualifier to the release version (e.g. `"-RC1"`)
-# via an environment variable RELEASE_VERSION_QUALIFIER
-> set releaseVersion := sbtversionpolicy.withsbtrelease.ReleaseVersion.fromAggregatedAssessedCompatibilityWithLatestRelease(qualifier = sys.env.getOrElse("RELEASE_VERSION_QUALIFIER", "")).value
-
 # Second release
 > release with-defaults
 # Check that sbt-version-policy bumped the minor version
diff --git a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/version.sbt b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/version.sbt
index a3a28d6..a5f65fc 100644
--- a/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/version.sbt
+++ b/sbt-version-policy/src/sbt-test/sbt-version-policy/example-sbt-release-unconstrained/version.sbt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-ThisBuild / version := "0.0.1-SNAPSHOT"
+ThisBuild / version := "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT"