DB design to avoid versioning inconsistencies between the application layer and the database layer

Usually there is a 1-1 mapping between an object in the application layer and a table in the database layer. This coupling leads to complexities whenever there is a database schema change and the application version may not be compatible with the current database version that it is talking to. I was reading that there is an approach of database design that is driven by metadata. Something like the fields available for an object is found from a table and then a query is done. So some form of direction in order to avoid versioning problems. Is this approach used in general and how exactly is it implemented? Also are there are other approaches to deal with this issue?