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I don't think it is just the tone that differs between TH and LotR. Yes, much of the humour disappears (but Sam still is able to maintain some sense of nonsense to help him when he is discouraged.)
What LotR has, which is part of its tremendous attraction, is a far better presentation of those distant hills, the hints of the Legendarium. A long history as well as a long defeat, one might say. So two qualities differentiate LotR from TH and I think account for its success. As davem says, this quality of a hidden history slowly or tentatively unfolded does begin to appear late in TH, so that presence has to go somewhere.
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I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.
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