Can I change how often Lion's "Versions" feature saves files?
I haven't been experimenting with this for long enough to be an expert yet, but I think you're confusing two semi-separate features: autosave and versions.

Autosave saves frequently -- in TextEdit, it seems to save after about 30 seconds of inactivity.  But it doesn't save a new version, it just saves the current document state.

Every hour and/or every time you explicitly save a version (Command-S), it saves a restorable version -- one that you can revert to if you decide you've made a mistake in editing.  Once saved, the "version" does not get updated; you can revert to it, or go into the Browse all Versions interface and copy content from it, but it's essentially frozen.

Autosave protects you against forgetting to save changes.  Versions protects you against mistaken edits you wish you hadn't made.  They operate on different time scales (and as far as I know, neither has customizable timing).