diff --git a/sklearn/tree/tests/test_tree.py b/sklearn/tree/tests/test_tree.py
index acadaf6cadf5b..da647aba9b1e5 100644
--- a/sklearn/tree/tests/test_tree.py
+++ b/sklearn/tree/tests/test_tree.py
@@ -1376,3 +1376,15 @@ def check_decision_path(name):
 def test_decision_path():
     for name in ALL_TREES:
         yield (check_decision_path, name)
+
+
+def check_no_sparse_y_support(name):
+    X, y = X_multilabel, csr_matrix(y_multilabel)
+    TreeEstimator = ALL_TREES[name]
+    assert_raises(ValueError, TreeEstimator(random_state=0).fit, X, y)
+
+
+def test_no_sparse_y_support():
+    # Currently we don't support sparse y
+    for name in ALL_TREES:
+        yield (check_decision_path, name)
diff --git a/sklearn/tree/tree.py b/sklearn/tree/tree.py
index 028d2626bc23c..363c0220f9f4a 100644
--- a/sklearn/tree/tree.py
+++ b/sklearn/tree/tree.py
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ def fit(self, X, y, sample_weight=None, check_input=True,
         random_state = check_random_state(self.random_state)
         if check_input:
             X = check_array(X, dtype=DTYPE, accept_sparse="csc")
-            y = check_array(y, accept_sparse='csc', ensure_2d=False, dtype=None)
+            y = check_array(y, ensure_2d=False, dtype=None)
             if issparse(X):
                 X.sort_indices()