Are creation stories more than just explanations of how the world came to be?

[Yelnoc]

Reading Genesis, it occurred to me that the authors were certainly aware that they were copying down two different creation stories (Gen 1:1-2:3 and 2:4-2:25). But rather than trying to reconcile them or simply deleting one, they copied them down and placed them back to back without comment.  That suggests to me that the exact content or the sequence of creation was not terribly relevant to the authors. Perhaps they felt the two traditions were equally valid and therefore worth preserving. Perhaps the traditions together served some other purpose than simply explaining the origins of everything. But what could that be?