diff --git a/runtime/service/build.gradle.kts b/runtime/service/build.gradle.kts
index af86c83774..c0f462982a 100644
--- a/runtime/service/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/runtime/service/build.gradle.kts
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ dependencies {
   testImplementation("io.quarkus:quarkus-rest-client-jackson")
   testImplementation("io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-h2")
 
+  testImplementation("io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-sdk-testing")
+
   testImplementation("io.rest-assured:rest-assured")
 
   testImplementation(platform(libs.testcontainers.bom))
diff --git a/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/tracing/TracingFilterTest.java b/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/tracing/TracingFilterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..825d45cb5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/tracing/TracingFilterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.polaris.service.tracing;
+
+import static io.opentelemetry.api.common.AttributeKey.stringKey;
+import static io.restassured.RestAssured.given;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.awaitility.Awaitility.await;
+
+import io.opentelemetry.api.common.AttributeKey;
+import io.opentelemetry.api.trace.SpanContext;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.testing.exporter.InMemorySpanExporter;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.SpanData;
+import io.quarkus.test.common.http.TestHTTPEndpoint;
+import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusTest;
+import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusTestProfile;
+import io.quarkus.test.junit.TestProfile;
+import io.restassured.http.ContentType;
+import jakarta.enterprise.inject.Produces;
+import jakarta.inject.Inject;
+import jakarta.inject.Singleton;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.apache.polaris.service.catalog.api.IcebergRestOAuth2Api;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+@QuarkusTest
+@TestProfile(TracingFilterTest.Profile.class)
+@TestHTTPEndpoint(IcebergRestOAuth2Api.class)
+public class TracingFilterTest {
+
+  public static class Profile implements QuarkusTestProfile {
+
+    @Produces
+    @Singleton
+    InMemorySpanExporter inMemorySpanExporter() {
+      return InMemorySpanExporter.create();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Map<String, String> getConfigOverrides() {
+      return Map.of("quarkus.otel.sdk.disabled", "false");
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Inject InMemorySpanExporter inMemorySpanExporter;
+
+  @Test
+  void testW3CTraceContextPropagation() {
+
+    // Emulate an incoming request with a W3C trace context
+    // Example taken from:
+    // https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context/#traceparent-header-field-values
+    String traceId = "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736";
+    String spanId = "00f067aa0ba902b7";
+    String traceparent = "00-" + traceId + "-" + spanId + "-01";
+    String rojoState = spanId;
+    String congoState = "t61rcWkgMzE";
+    String tracestate = "rojo=" + rojoState + ",congo=" + congoState;
+
+    given()
+        .contentType(ContentType.URLENC)
+        .formParam("grant_type", "client_credentials")
+        .formParam("scope", "PRINCIPAL_ROLE:ALL")
+        .formParam("client_id", "test-admin")
+        .formParam("client_secret", "test-secret")
+        // W3C headers
+        .header("traceparent", traceparent)
+        .header("tracestate", tracestate)
+        // Polaris request ID
+        .header("X-Request-ID", "12345")
+        .when()
+        .post()
+        .then()
+        .statusCode(200)
+        .header("X-Request-ID", "12345");
+
+    List<SpanData> spans =
+        await()
+            .atMost(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
+            .until(inMemorySpanExporter::getFinishedSpanItems, sp -> !sp.isEmpty());
+
+    SpanData span = spans.getFirst();
+
+    Map<AttributeKey<?>, Object> attributes = span.getAttributes().asMap();
+    assertThat(attributes)
+        .containsEntry(stringKey(TracingFilter.REALM_ID_ATTRIBUTE), "POLARIS")
+        .containsEntry(stringKey(TracingFilter.REQUEST_ID_ATTRIBUTE), "12345");
+
+    SpanContext parent = span.getParentSpanContext();
+    assertThat(parent.getTraceId()).isEqualTo(traceId);
+    assertThat(parent.getSpanId()).isEqualTo(spanId);
+    assertThat(parent.isRemote()).isTrue();
+    assertThat(parent.getTraceFlags().asByte()).isEqualTo((byte) 1);
+    assertThat(parent.getTraceState().asMap())
+        .containsEntry("rojo", rojoState)
+        .containsEntry("congo", congoState);
+  }
+}