diff --git a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/consensus-health.json b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/consensus-health.json
index 4694de8ea3..a2d8374bae 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/consensus-health.json
+++ b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/consensus-health.json
@@ -23,14 +23,14 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.accept\"}[5m])))",
-          "legendFormat": "p95 round duration"
+          "legendFormat": "P95 Round Duration"
         },
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.50, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.accept\"}[5m])))",
-          "legendFormat": "p50 round duration"
+          "legendFormat": "P50 Round Duration"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "sum(rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.proposal.send\"}[5m]))",
-          "legendFormat": "proposals/sec"
+          "legendFormat": "Proposals / Sec"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.ledger_close\"}[5m])))",
-          "legendFormat": "p95 close duration"
+          "legendFormat": "P95 Close Duration"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "sum(rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.validation.send\"}[5m]))",
-          "legendFormat": "validations/sec"
+          "legendFormat": "Validations / Sec"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -131,14 +131,14 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.accept.apply\"}[5m])))",
-          "legendFormat": "p95 apply duration"
+          "legendFormat": "P95 Apply Duration"
         },
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.50, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.accept.apply\"}[5m])))",
-          "legendFormat": "p50 apply duration"
+          "legendFormat": "P50 Apply Duration"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@
             "type": "prometheus"
           },
           "expr": "sum(rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{exported_instance=~\"$node\", span_name=\"consensus.accept.apply\"}[5m]))",
-          "legendFormat": "total rounds/sec"
+          "legendFormat": "Total Rounds / Sec"
         }
       ],
       "fieldConfig": {
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@
       {
         "name": "node",
         "label": "Node",
-        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 defaults to node public key)",
+        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 e.g. Node-1)",
         "type": "query",
         "query": "label_values(traces_span_metrics_calls_total, exported_instance)",
         "datasource": {
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/rpc-performance.json b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/rpc-performance.json
index 0cba8b0d52..8fda707a97 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/rpc-performance.json
+++ b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/rpc-performance.json
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
       {
         "name": "node",
         "label": "Node",
-        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 defaults to node public key)",
+        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 e.g. Node-1)",
         "type": "query",
         "query": "label_values(traces_span_metrics_calls_total, exported_instance)",
         "datasource": {
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/transaction-overview.json b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/transaction-overview.json
index 8adeb4e2e3..28edf5545e 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/transaction-overview.json
+++ b/docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/transaction-overview.json
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
       {
         "name": "node",
         "label": "Node",
-        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 defaults to node public key)",
+        "description": "Filter by rippled node (service.instance.id \u2014 e.g. Node-1)",
         "type": "query",
         "query": "label_values(traces_span_metrics_calls_total, exported_instance)",
         "datasource": {
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/grafana/provisioning/datasources/tempo.yaml b/docker/telemetry/grafana/provisioning/datasources/tempo.yaml
index 1c372461d7..838bfe0919 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/grafana/provisioning/datasources/tempo.yaml
+++ b/docker/telemetry/grafana/provisioning/datasources/tempo.yaml
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ datasources:
             operator: "="
             scope: resource
             type: static
-          # service.instance.id: unique node identifier — defaults to the
-          #   node's public key (e.g., nHB1X37...). Distinguishes individual
-          #   nodes in a multi-node cluster or network.
+          # service.instance.id: unique node identifier — configurable via
+          #   the service_instance_id setting in [telemetry], defaults to the
+          #   node's public key. E.g. "Node-1" or "nHB1X37...".
           - id: node-id
             tag: service.instance.id
             operator: "="
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/integration-test.sh b/docker/telemetry/integration-test.sh
index da2c17fb2b..86b423fd03 100755
--- a/docker/telemetry/integration-test.sh
+++ b/docker/telemetry/integration-test.sh
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ ${IPS_FIXED}
 
 [telemetry]
 enabled=1
+service_instance_id=Node-${i}
 endpoint=http://localhost:4318/v1/traces
 exporter=otlp_http
 sampling_ratio=1.0