Absolutely. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive. It just so happens that some things that sounded pleasant to people in the past still sound pleasant

Absolutely. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive. It just so happens that some things that sounded pleasant to people in the past still sound pleasant to modern ears, so you sometimes get into a bit of “tail wagging the dog” when people use those descriptive academic terms and concepts when creating music today, e.g. saying “I’m gonna write a 16-bar AABA tune that’s based on a I-vi-ii-V progression and modulates to the mediant in the B section”, and therefore think these are “rules” to abide. One of the more unfortunate misconceptions when it comes to the study of music theory.