Every graph eigenvalue is in particular a totally real algebraic integer, i.e. a zero of some real-rooted monic polynomial with integer coefficients. Conversely, the fact that every such number occurs as an eigenvalue of some finite graph is a remarkable result, conjectured forty years ago by Hoffman, and proved twenty years later by Bass, Estes and Guralnick. This note provides an independent, elementary proof of a stronger statement, namely that the graph may always be chosen to be a tree.