For Eliade, trees symbolically represent timelessness, their lifespan is long, and they are representational of our hopes for immortality.  They also act as a test for the hero of the myth being told, just as Adam and Eve were tested with the divine tree in the Garden of Eden.  The tree and its test represents the sacred in the realm of the real, if you can pass the test, the sacred can bestow immortality.  The symbology of the  tree in \textit{Empire State of Mind} is twofold.  The tree first appears whenJay-Z raps:  ``Don't bite the apple, Eve'''\footcite{Empire}. This Biblical reference to Eve's fall can also represent the city itself as temptation.  New York is known as the Big Apple, and the materialism of the city, can turn those innocents who move there into a materialistic devotee, tempted by the money, possessions and the potential for fame.  This connection Jay-Z has made between the Bible myth of the Garden of Eden %and the first man and woman,
also connects to another of Eliade's theories.  He said that in all symbolic thinking, there are two main features.  The first being that symbols and myths rarely exist in isolation, that they connect to other myths and symbols. This interconnectedness appears to extend the sense of the sacred for the archaic people, adding sacredness to the realm of everyday activities.  Each time a symbol or myth is interwoven with another, the sacred reaches out to another aspect of life.  %The second feature is that some symbols and myths are superior to others,  through their size.  If the original symbol was one size, than if a new myth is made of the symbol on a grander scale is is revalorized and takes on a new hierophany.  The perfect example of this is the World Trade Centre, twin towers.  It was a symbol of the capitalism in New York, but with the  tragedy of 9/11 it has been revalorized as something far more sacred.