order as defined in the sequence

Dear Community

Is there any possibility to set the order of the selected nodes as defined
in the sequence. I.E.

<xsl:for-each select="/node[@class = ('z', 'a', 'b')]">

I would like to process the nodes exactly as defined in the sequence z-a-b,
that means:
1) node[@class eq 'z']
2) node[@class eq 'a']
3) node[@class eq 'b']

Or do I have to use 3 <xsl:apply-templates/>.

For your support many thanks in advance ... Raffaele