I'd say that the phrase "the most beautiful word in the English language" is meaningless and worse yet without referent.

I'd say that contemplation of "the most beautiful word in the English language" is perhaps the most meaningful thing we could do to introduce the language to a student of english, jheem, and the fact that it doesn't have a "referent" is a liberating virtue of the exercise, not a criticism, and certainly not a restraint.

What is more, I think John Keats, one of the pre-eminent poets of our language, would agree.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty -- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

What comes first, jheem, the awareness of beauty, or its analysis?

For those to whom analysis comes first, it is because, I suspect, they have no 'awareness' of their subject.