diff --git a/forms/FormField.php b/forms/FormField.php
index 7cec10618..c8c20ff63 100644
--- a/forms/FormField.php
+++ b/forms/FormField.php
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ class FormField extends RequestHandler {
 			'id' => $this->ID(),
 			'tabindex' => $this->getTabIndex(),
 			'disabled' => $this->isDisabled(),
+			'title' => $this->getDescription(),
 		);
 		return array_merge($attrs, $this->attributes);
 	}
@@ -689,16 +690,24 @@ class FormField extends RequestHandler {
 		return true;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @deprecated 3.0 Use setDescription()
+	 */
+	function describe($description) {
+		Deprecation::notice('3.0', 'Use setDescription()');
+		$this->setDescription($description);
+		return $this;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Describe this field, provide help text for it.
-	 * The function returns this so it can be used like this:
-	 * $action = FormAction::create('submit', 'Submit')->describe("Send your changes to be approved")
+	 * By default, renders as a "title" attribute on the form field.
 	 * 
 	 * @return string Description
 	 */
-	function describe($description) {
+	function setDescription($description) {
 		$this->description = $description;
-		return $this;
+		return $this;	
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/templates/forms/CheckboxSetField.ss b/templates/forms/CheckboxSetField.ss
index d5138c030..ce252b09b 100644
--- a/templates/forms/CheckboxSetField.ss
+++ b/templates/forms/CheckboxSetField.ss
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<ul id="$ID" class="$extraClass">
+<ul id="$ID" class="$extraClass"<% if Description %> title="$Description"<% end_if %>>
 	<% if Options.Count %>
 		<% control Options %>
 			<li class="$Class">
diff --git a/templates/forms/OptionsetField.ss b/templates/forms/OptionsetField.ss
index 8d43e93fc..485be8b70 100644
--- a/templates/forms/OptionsetField.ss
+++ b/templates/forms/OptionsetField.ss
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<ul id="$ID" class="$extraClass">
+<ul id="$ID" class="$extraClass"<% if Description %> title="$Description"<% end_if %>>
 	<% control Options %>
 		<li class="$Class">
 			<input id="$ID" class="radio" name="$Name" type="radio" value="$Value"<% if isChecked %> checked<% end_if %><% if isDisabled %> disabled<% end_if %>>