diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtend/maven/AbstractXtendCompilerMojo.java b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtend/maven/AbstractXtendCompilerMojo.java
index 2d0846a124c..2f7b0c79644 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtend/maven/AbstractXtendCompilerMojo.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtend/maven/AbstractXtendCompilerMojo.java
@@ -45,11 +45,24 @@ public boolean apply(String filePath) {
 	/**
 	 * Create Java Source Code that is compatible to this Java version.
 	 * 
-	 * Supported values: 11, 17 and so forth
+	 * Supported values: 11, 17, 21 and so forth
 	 */
 	@Parameter(property="maven.compiler.source", defaultValue="11")
 	private String javaSourceVersion;
 
+	/**
+	 * Create Java Source Code that targets this Java release.
+	 * <p>
+	 * If set, this implies a {@link #javaSourceVersion} of the same value and any value explicitly configured for the latter is ignored.
+	 * Nevertheless specifying this parameter does not enforce strict Java API checks like the {@code release} option for a Java compiler
+	 * does. Still it is possible to enforce strict Java API checks by specifying the {@code release} option for the compiler-plugin.
+	 * </p>
+	 * 
+	 * Supported values: 11, 17, 21 and so forth
+	 */
+	@Parameter(property = "maven.compiler.release")
+	private String javaReleaseVersion;
+
 	/**
 	 * The current build session instance. This is used for toolchain manager API calls.
 	 */
@@ -132,8 +145,9 @@ protected void compile(String classPath, List<String> sourcePaths, String output
 			return;
 		}
 		String baseDir = project.getBasedir().getAbsolutePath();
-		log.debug("Set Java Compliance Level: " + javaSourceVersion);
-		compiler.setJavaSourceVersion(javaSourceVersion);
+		String sourceVersion = javaReleaseVersion != null && !javaReleaseVersion.isBlank() ? javaReleaseVersion : javaSourceVersion;
+		log.debug("Set Java Compliance Level: " + sourceVersion);
+		compiler.setJavaSourceVersion(sourceVersion);
 		log.debug("Set generateSyntheticSuppressWarnings: " + generateSyntheticSuppressWarnings);
 		compiler.setGenerateSyntheticSuppressWarnings(generateSyntheticSuppressWarnings);
 		log.debug("Set useXbaseGenerated: " + useXbaseGenerated);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/compile/simple-java21/pom.xml b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/compile/simple-java21/pom.xml
index 8dc001b7e16..4edcf1b1800 100755
--- a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/compile/simple-java21/pom.xml
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/compile/simple-java21/pom.xml
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@
 	</parent>
 	<artifactId>simple-java21</artifactId>
 	<properties>
-		<maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
-		<maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
+		<maven.compiler.release>21</maven.compiler.release>
 	</properties>
 	<build>
 		<plugins>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/pom.xml b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/pom.xml
index 683b752ae9c..8b719753dd4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/pom.xml
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtend.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/pom.xml
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 	<version>IT-SNAPSHOT</version>
 	<packaging>pom</packaging>
 	<properties>
-		<maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-		<maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+		<maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
 		<xtextVersion>@project.version@</xtextVersion>
 		<xtextBOMVersion>${xtextVersion}</xtextBOMVersion>
 	</properties>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtext/maven/AbstractXtextGeneratorMojo.java b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtext/maven/AbstractXtextGeneratorMojo.java
index 2de82c92557..53def48a643 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtext/maven/AbstractXtextGeneratorMojo.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/xtext/maven/AbstractXtextGeneratorMojo.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 import org.eclipse.xtext.builder.standalone.LanguageAccessFactory;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.builder.standalone.StandaloneBuilder;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.builder.standalone.compiler.CompilerConfiguration;
-import org.eclipse.xtext.builder.standalone.compiler.IJavaCompiler;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.resource.IResourceDescription;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.resource.persistence.IResourceStorageFacade;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.resource.persistence.StorageAwareResource;
@@ -101,6 +100,21 @@ public String getEncoding() {
 
 	@Parameter(property = "maven.compiler.target", defaultValue = "11")
 	private String compilerTargetLevel;
+	/**
+	 * Create Java Source Code that is compatible to this Java release.
+	 * <p>
+	 * If set, this implies a {@link #compilerSourceLevel} and
+	 * {@link #compilerTargetLevel} of the same value and any value explicitly
+	 * configured for the latter is ignored. Nevertheless specifying this parameter
+	 * does not enforce strict Java API checks like the {@code release} option for a
+	 * Java compiler does. Still it is possible to enforce strict Java API checks by
+	 * specifying the {@code release} option for the compiler-plugin.
+	 * </p>
+	 * 
+	 * Supported values: 11, 17, 21 and so forth
+	 */
+	@Parameter(property = "maven.compiler.release")
+	private String compilerReleaseLevel;
 
 	@Parameter(defaultValue = "false")
 	private boolean compilerSkipAnnotationProcessing;
@@ -224,8 +238,9 @@ protected void internalExecute() throws MojoExecutionException {
 		if (clusteringConfig != null) {
 			builder.setClusteringConfig(clusteringConfig.convertToStandaloneConfig());
 		}
-		configureCompiler(builder.getCompiler());
-		logState();
+		CompilerConfiguration compilerConfiguration = builder.getCompiler().getConfiguration();
+		configureCompiler(compilerConfiguration);
+		logState(compilerConfiguration);
 		boolean errorDetected = !builder.launch();
 		if (errorDetected && failOnValidationError) {
 			throw new MojoExecutionException("Execution failed due to a severe validation error.");
@@ -236,20 +251,20 @@ protected void internalExecute() throws MojoExecutionException {
 	
 	protected abstract List<String> getSourceRoots();
 
-	private void configureCompiler(IJavaCompiler compiler) {
-		CompilerConfiguration conf = compiler.getConfiguration();
-		conf.setSourceLevel(compilerSourceLevel);
-		conf.setTargetLevel(compilerTargetLevel);
+	private void configureCompiler(CompilerConfiguration conf) {
+		boolean isReleaseSet = compilerReleaseLevel != null && !compilerReleaseLevel.isBlank();
+		conf.setSourceLevel(isReleaseSet ? compilerReleaseLevel : compilerSourceLevel);
+		conf.setTargetLevel(isReleaseSet ? compilerReleaseLevel : compilerTargetLevel);
 		conf.setVerbose(getLog().isDebugEnabled());
 		conf.setSkipAnnotationProcessing(compilerSkipAnnotationProcessing);
 		conf.setPreserveInformationAboutFormalParameters(compilerPreserveInformationAboutFormalParameters);
 	}
 
-	private void logState() {
+	private void logState(CompilerConfiguration compilerConfiguration) {
 		getLog().info(
 				"Encoding: " + (getEncoding() == null ? "not set. Encoding provider will be used." : getEncoding()));
-		getLog().info("Compiler source level: " + compilerSourceLevel);
-		getLog().info("Compiler target level: " + compilerTargetLevel);
+		getLog().info("Compiler source level: " + compilerConfiguration.getSourceLevel());
+		getLog().info("Compiler target level: " + compilerConfiguration.getTargetLevel());
 		if (getLog().isDebugEnabled()) {
 			getLog().debug("Source dirs: " + IterableExtensions.join(getSourceRoots(), ", "));
 			getLog().debug("Java source dirs: " + IterableExtensions.join(javaSourceRoots, ", "));
diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/java-lang-21-bi-ref/pom.xml b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/java-lang-21-bi-ref/pom.xml
index 0b1e26eeffc..efb8d32809b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/java-lang-21-bi-ref/pom.xml
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/java-lang-21-bi-ref/pom.xml
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@
 	</parent>
 
 	<properties>
-		<maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
-		<maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
+		<maven.compiler.release>21</maven.compiler.release>
 	</properties>
 
 	<artifactId>java-lang-21-bi-ref</artifactId>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/pom.xml b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/pom.xml
index facbc50a38c..4c3387ed57b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/pom.xml
+++ b/org.eclipse.xtext.maven.plugin/src/test/resources/it/generate/pom.xml
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@
 	<properties>
 		<JENKINS_URL>https://ci.eclipse.org/xtext</JENKINS_URL>
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-		<maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-		<maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+		<maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
 		<!-- The @...@ will be replaced during resource filtering with
 			the current version of our project -->
 		<xtext-version>@project.version@</xtext-version>