"Tradition" has different meanings in different contexts - indeed, I remember my anthropology lecturer telling us we should always put it in inverted commas. In poetry, e.g., these days, it tends to refer to the use of metre and/or rhyme (e.g., Walkaboutsverse). But, in music, it refers to a piece to which we do not know the author(s) - e.g., the 17 in my repertoire.