Wow. Thanks all! Those responses took me on quite a ride from which I learned a few things (hopefully, correct things). First off, and as a bit of an aside, that Mr. Bungle music was pretty interesting. I listened to a few of their songs. At first I thought I didn't really like it. Then I thought maybe I did. Then I decided I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Now I feel like I simultaneously like and dislike their music. Anyway, I added the California album to my iTunes playlist so I can listen some more (always on the hunt for new music that I can get excited about) to see if it grows on or off me. But anyway...

As for the point of this thread, I see now, looking more closely and based on what you guys were saying, that my premise was incorrect concerning the maj7 chord. Indeed, for all (or most all) of the voicings I looked at, the root note does not appear above the maj7 note. When I tried to put it in with some sort of awkward fingering (to get a minor 2nd), it definitely detracted from what I perceive as the beautiful quality of that chord. BTW, I'm mostly playing these chords without any harmonic context.

I also realize now a critical error in my thinking. I guess I hadn't really thought about it but sort of unconsciously assumed that if you had a B and a C in a chord, you would have a minor 2nd interval. But obviously if they are ordered C to B, you would have a maj7 only and not a minor 2nd. This led me to try some experiments with what to me were interesting results. Basically, I played every possible sequence of a 3 note C chord (i.e., CEG, CGE, GCE, ECG, GCE, and GEC) alone, and also as a I chord in a simple blues pattern. They all pretty much worked (although with the particular F and G chords I was playing, one of the voicings was resolved to a bit more pleasantly, to my ear, than the others and a couple sounded a bit odd - although they still worked). Obviously, each of those different inversions and voicings is associated with a different set of intervals. So what I'm taking away from that is that the harmonic function of a chord (in the context of whatever other chords are being played) is absolutely dependent on the notes and relatively immune to alterations of the intervals between them, even though the intervals do have a pretty big impact on the sound. I assume that for other things I haven't gotten to, like voice leading in particular, playing with moving bass lines and such, the order of notes become much more important. Let me know if you think I've come away with the wrong conclusions.