A single branch is only a small part of the tree. The rest of the tree is "in perfect verdure," a symbol of life, not of death
The tree has come to symbolize nature and nature’s resurrection. In spring all comes alive in the full morning sun and the tree's leaves whisper the secrets of the living, just as the single, symbolic branch gives the secrets of the dead - Nathaniel Hawthorn

Hope of Nature

The leaf drops off into the earth
And every withering flower
With some in the cold of winter
Some after a summer shower
All flourished once alike will fall
Into the earth that nourished them all
Should we be any less content?
Knowing when our life is spent
That all that lives all must die
This wherein nature’s secrets lie
Hopefully at a trumpet sound
Will awake the dead underground

Beryl McMullen