I think that ordering suttas and recognizable pericopes by doctrinal elements used or presupposed is the way to go. Archaic language factors in as well. Larger collections may have been developed over long periods of time so some suttas may be earlier and others later. It may be that one collection was started first, but finished last.
I use the absence of the five aggregates in both the Chapter of Eights and MN119 to argue that they are both early texts and from there draw some conclusions about the jhanas in my discussion. I think that we have to be careful when we prooftext to only do it between suttas and perocopes that use and presuppose the same doctrinal elements.
Ordering may take several iterations. Ordering the doctrinal elements based upon simplicity and dependence on others may have to be revised based on whether or not they are consistent with what is found in the suttas. In other words, there may be some chicken and egg issues to work out.