A Roman dominating function (RDF) on a graph G = (V,E) is a function f : V −→ {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u for which f(u) = 0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v) = 2. The weight of an RDF is the value f(V (G)) = P u2V (G) f(u). An RDF f in a graph G is independent if no two vertices assigned positive values are adjacent. The Roman domination number R(G) (respectively, the independent Roman domination number iR(G)) is the minimum weight of an RDF (respectively, independent RDF) on G. We say that R(G) strongly equals iR(G), denoted by R(G) ≡ iR(G), if every RDF on G of minimum weight is independent. In this paper we provide a constructive characterization of trees T with R(T) ≡ iR(T).