Taste is subjective, but even so, the history of so many people singling out this phrase as beautiful is itself interesting

Not at all.

It works against humanity that a word like “empathy”, something core to anything ever being being good, has this off-putting, saccharine, “being covered in syrup” feel to it. Good to know because often it’ll make you pick a synonym, or a whole substitute phrase, that doesn’t have as much ick to it.