In the first aliya of B'midbar the chiefs of the tribes are listed. Nine have the zakeif gadol trope and three -- Yisachar, Binyamin, and Naftali -- have different trope. This isn't driven by word count (e.g. the Yosef tribes, even though they have more words, still use the same trope, just with some additions).
I wondered if there were something special about these three tribes that the trope is trying to call out. Another place where representatives of tribes are listed is in Sh'lach l'cha, and there also there is a majority trope with some variation -- but it's not the same tribes there (Yehudah and Manashe there).
Why do these three tribes have different trope in B'midbar? Is there a meaning or is it just melodic variation? And if there is meaning behind it, where can I find commentaries that address it? Most of the common commentaries (or at least the ones I have) focus on text and don't address trope.