on a strat anyway... and as I understand it... the whole idea of the string tree is/was just to keep the strings from popping out of the nut. On a gibson, afa neck angle, it is my understanding that the original idea was to increase the perceived tension on lower frets. due to the shorter 24.625" scale length, and 22.5" on a byrdland, they feel pretty loose. I could totally be wrong about that but I'm almost certain I read it somewhere. I've read that the early (59) les pauls actually had a 17 degree headstock angle for this reason... and it has been relaxed on most modern gibsons to 14. long story long... as long as your strings don't pop out of the nut you are probably good.
"8777kllo" is how my cat feels about the whole thing (she jumped on my keyboard). she is a wise cat so I'm sure if we can figure out what she meant it will be really relevant lol.