OK, I can run some tests now. Things seem to work as I intended.
I have two columns "Text with a fixed set of values" with "Show checkmarks" unchecked. The permitted values for each column are blank and "yes,no,one,two,three". I put the same value in each column for 5 books. I then created identical icon rules for each column except that one has "with text" and one has "with no text".
The result:
The first column has the text along side the icons with the text aligned. The second column has no text where there is an icon, and the text and icons are aligned.
For completeness, the rules: