The problem with relying on a tree is most brains don't organize information like that. This is why code search is much more valuable. Naturally, having one can

The problem with relying on a tree is most brains don't organize information like that. This is why code search is much more valuable. Naturally, having one canonical tree representation is obviously a good idea but the value is really in introducing a constraint that acts as a forcing function (if done right) to simplify the code base (it can also be theater - spaghetti code masquerading as as well structured code base).