How to interpret 緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが、闇を飾るように聞こえてくる。


I was reading a light novel and saw this sentence describing how it feels like
in a forest.

> 緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが、闇を飾るように聞こえてくる。

I understand every word in it, but I am confused as to what sounds can be
heard.

To me, it is not clear what だけ modifies, does this mean:

  * 聞こえる音はただ一つ、緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だ or;
  * 他の音も聞こえるが、 **闇を飾るように** ではなく、他のように聞こえる。つまり、緩やかな風で森がざわめく音だけが闇を飾る。他の音は闇を飾らない

Which interpretation is correct? Or are both correct?




Both interpretations are technically possible, but only the former seems
natural to me. This is a dark and relatively silent forest, isn't it? 闇を飾るように
is a fairly vague and poetic expression and I have never tried to distinguish
sounds according to such a criterion. If it were something like
森がざわめく音だけが前から聞こえてくる, the sentence might seem ambiguous and there might be
other sound sources behind you.




Both interpretations are technically possible, but only the former seems
natural to me. This is a dark and relatively silent forest, isn't it? 闇を飾るように
is a fairly vague and poetic expression and I have never tried to distinguish
sounds according to such a criterion. If it were something like
森がざわめく音だけが前から聞こえてくる, the sentence might seem ambiguous and there might be
other sound sources behind you.

