[Aiwendil]

Interesting comments, Aldarion - and thanks for sparking some discussion of the actual content of the Valaquenta!

First, I wonder how Tolkien chose what his various gods would be the "god of". That is, most of them are elemental gods - the god of the air, the god of water, the god of the underworld. With the exception of Nienna, I don't think that any of the emotions are represented. Where's Tolkien's version of Venus?

A very interesting point. Tolkien does not give us a god of love as the Greeks did. Interesting that the only emotion governed by a specific Vala is sorrow. It's true that many of the Valar - and many of the most important Valar - are "elemental gods". But it's interesting to note how their elemental associations are often extended - for instance, Ulmo is the Vala of water, but because of the nature of water in the Legendarium, he also functions to some extent as a Vala of music. Let me attempt to pair the Valar up with their "spheres of governance" if you will:

Manwe - Air, birds
Varda - Stars (perhaps more broadly, light?), Elves generally
Ulmo - Water, music
Aule - Earth, craft/skill, Dwarves, (to some extent) the Noldor
Yavanna - Vegetation (perhaps, more broadly, life?), the Ents
Namo (Mandos) - Death, doom
Vaire - Stories, weaving
Irmo (Lorien) - Visions, dreams
Este - Healing
Nienna - Grief
Tulkas - Strength
Nessa - Deer? Speed? Dancing? (Not quite sure)
Orome - Beasts, hunting
Vana - Youth
Melkor - Part of the power of each of the Valar

So the greatest of the Valar are associated with elements, except Melkor (though I recall someone in a long ago discussion putting forward the idea that he might originally have been associated with fire). And though Tolkien only gives us one emotion-related Vala, he also gives us Valar associated with such attributes as strength and youth. It's worth noting that Tolkien's earth-god is male. In the western world, we are probably more used to thinking of the earth as feminine, following the Greco-Roman tradition - with Gaea as the primordial (and female) earth-god. But Tolkien is by no means alone in making the earth-god male - Geb of Egyptian mythology comes to mind as a precedent. Also, Tolkien draws a distinction between earth itself (i.e. the rocks and soil) and things that grow on it.

He also eliminated the gods of war and battle from the earlier versions in UT. I wonder why he did this - to keep the pantehon from growing unmanageably large?

This may have had something to do with it, but it seems to me that it was also part of a general 'cleaning' of the mythology (for lack of a better term) that took place over the course of its development. Tolkien's cosmos becomes more orderly as he develops it, and the Valar more wholly good. It seems to me that he eliminated the war gods because they were too morally ambiguous - too evil without actually being, well, evil. This may also have something to do with his elimination of the children of the Valar. Though the Valar remain different from Christian angels in that they marry, the Valar of the Valaquenta bear a much stronger resemblence to angels than do the Valar of the Lost Tales.