This is what the English did with the form when they borrowed it from the French in the second half of the nineteenth century. The French hadn't taken it very seriously, either, though they deserve credit for revivifying it. The villanelle is the most repetitive of the traditional forms, with the possible exception of the pantoum. There's the additional restriction that it turn on two rhymes. It is a kind of poem which most of all we need to hear, as well as see, in order to get its full effect.
Repetition is a powerful device.
Anyway, as Leonard Trawick and I tried different combinations, we finally settled on thirty-two villanelles separated into four sections. We added some artwork, too, and some notes at the end. When it was finished what we seemed to have was more a progression of villanelles than a sequence. There's an implied narrative, but there's also movement within the poems based on association. You say the villanelle needs to be heard.