Composers did take advantage of the interesting properties of earlier temperaments.

With a non-equal temperament each key signature has a characteristic tonality due to its particular series of intervals, and a key that is 'far away' from the home key that an instrument is tuned for can have harsher sounding intervals. Equal temperaments like 12-TET were favored at least in part because they opened up possibilities for romantic era composers interested in exploring new ideas in modal harmony and more elaborate song structures.