It was the first instance of an author asking the question, "Can fantasy be written which is not a direct copying of _The Lord of the Rings_?"
and it is interesting to contrast it with texts such as _The Broken Sword_ by Poul Anderson (first published the same year as _The Fellowship of the Ring_) and _The Charwoman's Shadow_ by Lord Dunsany (published nearly 3 decades earlier).
The Broken Sword branches off in the other direction, I would say. Not in the action aspect, but in its overall worldview.
LoTR is subtly Christian in its themes of hope and redemption. The Broken Sword fits into the Nordic pagan view of the world, where heroes and villains are doomed alike.
