Agree. I got a friend who plays violin. He once had such comment: the butterfly lovers concerto (化蝶) is beautiful not so much because the composers got extraordinary talent. They derived the melody from the traditional Shaoxing opera (越剧）,
coolients(苦丁山)
which was so beautiful to begin with. His comment may not be entirely fair (from the composers' point of view), but in a way he expressed what you mean here :)