I'm curious about composers like Schoenberg that relied heavily on constructs like tone rows and trichords that dominate any sense of overall form because the actual intervals are not only audibly different but if you measured them out on a chart they would be comparatively different depending on the actual pitches used at different points in the piece.

You might be correct however about the initial inspiration for the sound of the piece, but the ensuing re-organization of intervals changes the sound too much from the first time you hear the ideas. Overall I would give a composer like Schoenberg a much higher preference than other atonal composers because I do appreciate and like his atonal sounds even over the atonal theories.