Beautifully said, Clairebear. I think that writers started to produce noun clusters in the belief that it is good to use fewer words. But of course, one can use too few, as well as too many.
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Okay, gnu. G'night. Stay warm. (I've seen -27 F here in Missouri. Now that's COLD. It was after the Mt. St. Helen's eruption put ash in the atmosphere and blocked sunlight.)
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Another example of rhythm and melody in a sentence. This comes from P.G. Wodehouse:

It is a mistake to curdle the reader's all the time.

Read it aloud. "-take" is on a notably higher pitch, and "all" is stretched out to be longer than the other words. Also, "all" has an interesting rise and then a drop in pitch.