I suppose it is a musical feature that has spread over a couple of hundred years so is in itself a tradition, even if you apply it to a new song.

Some friends perform an excellent version of Schooldays Over, MacColl and Seeger's wonderful song from the radio ballad The Big Hewer. It has three verses to reflect the three coalfields visited. So when they repeat the first verse it doesn't seem right to me. I like their rendition but the repeat bit? Works for some songs better than others, obviously.