Cellar door (aesthetically pleasing phrase)

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.