We present the free energy of a single-chain mean-field model for polymer melt dynamics, which uses a continuous (tube-like) approximation to the discrete entanglements with surrounding chains, but, in contrast to previous tube models, includes fluctuations in the number density of Kuhn steps along the primitive path and in the degree of entanglement. The free energy is obtained from that of the slip-link model with fluctuating entanglement positions [J. D. Schieber and K. Horio, J. Chem. Phys. 132, 074905 (2010)] by taking the continuous limit of (functions of) the discrete Kuhn-step numbers and end-to-end vectors of the strands between entanglements. This coarse-graining from a more-detailed level of description has the advantage that no ad hoc arguments need to be introduced. Moreover, the thermodynamic consistency of the slip-link model [J. D. Schieber, J. Non-Equilib. Thermodyn. 28, 179 (2003)] can be preserved. Fluctuations in the positions of entanglements lead to a harmonic bending term in the free energy of the continuous chain, similar to that derived by Read et al. [Macromolecules 41, 6843 (2008)] starting from a modified GLaMM model [R. S. Graham, A. E. Likhtman, T. C. B. McLeish, and S. T. Milner, J. Rheol. 47, 1171 (2003)]. If these fluctuations are set to zero, the free energy becomes purely Gaussian and corresponds to the continuous limit of the original slip-link model, with affinely moving entanglements [J. D. Schieber, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 5162 (2003)]. The free energy reduces to that of Read et al. under their assumptions of a homogeneous Kuhn-step number density and a constant degree of entanglement. Finally, we show how a transformation of the primitive-path coordinate can be applied to make the degree of entanglement an outcome of the model instead of a variable. In summary, this paper constitutes a first step towards a unified mathematical formulation of tube models. The next step will be to formulate the dynamics of the primitive-path conformation and the entanglement density along the primitive path. Now that the free energy is known, statistical mechanics can be employed for this purpose.