This problem sounds familar. And in fact we have to similar forum posts about this topic:
At that time I was under the impression that the order is not specified, but I may be wrong. If it is and Smack is doing it wrong, then this definetly needs to be fixed. I guess I have to do some specification reading. 
Until this question is answered. Could you provide your patch what of changed, so that it can get reviewed? If this fix is trivial as you described and does not come with side effects, it could also get included.