That just makes so much sense. It has exactly matched my experience.
It's sometimes not clear that a label plus an icon is actually better than a label alone: I think having the right icon alongside the right label multiplies their effectiveness. The icon is immediately recognizable, while the label is immediately comprehensible.
You get both good learnability and fast recall in one. Best of both worlds.
Research roughly says that icons with text are best and only text is better than only icons.