Arrangements of feature sets that have been proposed to represent qual
itative and quantitative variation among objects are shown to generate
identical sets of set-symmetric distances. The set-symmetric distance
s for these feature arrangements can be represented by path lengths in
an additive linear tree. Imperfect versions of these feature arrangem
ents are proposed, which also are indistinguishable by the set-symmetr
ic distance model. The distances for the imperfect versions can be rep
resented by path lengths in an additive imperfectly linear tree. When
dissimilarities are defined by the more general contrast model and a c
onstant may be added to proximity data, then for both the perfect and
imperfect arrangements an additive tree analysis obtains a perfect fit
with an imperfectly linear tree. However, in the case of the contrast
model also the distinction between the perfect and imperfect arrangem
ents disappears in that also for the perfect arrangements the resultin
g tree need no longer be linear.