diff --git a/dvc/command/experiments.py b/dvc/command/experiments.py
index 47d35c357..7e9937755 100644
--- a/dvc/command/experiments.py
+++ b/dvc/command/experiments.py
@@ -956,7 +956,10 @@ def add_parser(subparsers, parent_parser):
     )
     experiments_show_parser.add_argument(
         "--sort-order",
-        help="Sort order to use with --sort-by.",
+        help=(
+            "Sort order to use with --sort-by."
+            " Defaults to ascending ('asc')."
+        ),
         choices=("asc", "desc"),
         default="asc",
     )
diff --git a/tests/unit/command/test_experiments.py b/tests/unit/command/test_experiments.py
index 1439c9d76..7278d8bc9 100644
--- a/tests/unit/command/test_experiments.py
+++ b/tests/unit/command/test_experiments.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import csv
 from datetime import datetime
 
 import pytest
@@ -407,6 +408,121 @@ def test_show_experiments(capsys):
     )
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("sort_order", ["asc", "desc"])
+def test_show_experiments_sort_by(capsys, sort_order):
+    sort_experiments = {
+        "workspace": {
+            "baseline": {
+                "data": {
+                    "timestamp": None,
+                    "params": {
+                        "params.yaml": {
+                            "data": {
+                                "foo": 1,
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "queued": False,
+                    "running": False,
+                    "executor": None,
+                    "metrics": {},
+                }
+            }
+        },
+        "233b132676792d89e848e5c9c12e408d7efde78a": {
+            "baseline": {
+                "data": {
+                    "timestamp": datetime(2021, 8, 2, 16, 48, 14),
+                    "params": {
+                        "params.yaml": {
+                            "data": {
+                                "foo": 0,
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "queued": False,
+                    "running": False,
+                    "executor": None,
+                    "metrics": {},
+                    "name": "master",
+                }
+            },
+            "fad0a94": {
+                "data": {
+                    "timestamp": datetime(2021, 8, 31, 14, 56, 55),
+                    "params": {
+                        "params.yaml": {
+                            "data": {
+                                "foo": 1,
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "queued": False,
+                    "running": False,
+                    "executor": None,
+                    "metrics": {},
+                    "name": "exp-89140",
+                }
+            },
+            "60fcda8": {
+                "data": {
+                    "timestamp": datetime(2021, 8, 31, 14, 56, 55),
+                    "params": {
+                        "params.yaml": {
+                            "data": {
+                                "foo": 2,
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "queued": False,
+                    "running": False,
+                    "executor": None,
+                    "metrics": {},
+                    "name": "exp-43537",
+                }
+            },
+            "a7e9aaf": {
+                "data": {
+                    "timestamp": datetime(2021, 8, 31, 14, 56, 55),
+                    "params": {
+                        "params.yaml": {
+                            "data": {
+                                "foo": 0,
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "queued": False,
+                    "running": False,
+                    "executor": None,
+                    "metrics": {},
+                    "name": "exp-4f89e",
+                }
+            },
+        },
+    }
+
+    show_experiments(
+        sort_experiments,
+        precision=None,
+        fill_value="",
+        iso=True,
+        csv=True,
+        sort_by="foo",
+        sort_order=sort_order,
+    )
+
+    cap = capsys.readouterr()
+    rows = list(csv.reader(cap.out.strip().split("\n")))
+    # [3:] To skip header, workspace and baseline(master)
+    # which are not affected by order
+    params = tuple([int(row[-1]) for row in rows[3:]])
+
+    if sort_order == "asc":
+        assert params == (0, 1, 2)
+    else:
+        assert params == (2, 1, 0)
+
+
 def test_experiments_init_config(dvc, mocker):
     with dvc.config.edit() as conf:
         conf["exp"] = {"code": "new_src", "models": "new_models"}