Do humans naturally like floral scents, or is it a socially transmitted preference?

On a walk yesterday, I was poking my nose into all kinds of blooms along my path, and it occurred to me that this affinity that humans have for the scent of flowers is kind of hard to explain in terms of natural selection. Flowers attract pollinators with their scents, so it’s clear why bats, beetles, moths and bees are attracted to these scents. They, as well as the plants, benefit from that affinity.

But why are humans so enamored with these smells? They’re not pheromone-related scents, like musk. They don’t smell like food (and flowers don’t coincide with fruit in the environment). There are hundreds of volatile compounds that compose the various floral aromas, but there seem to be very few flower scents that we find actually repulsive.

Do we just learn from our elders that this a scent that we’re supposed to find pleasant? I remember seeing toddlers pick up flowers, smell them, “Mmmm” appreciatively, then proffer them to my nose, only to find that whatever little wildflower it was really had no scent. But we do seem to catch on very early that flower=smells good. Is it just that sniff—->“Mmmm” meme that our mothers pass onto us? Is it based on an association with the visual splendor of flowers?

What do you think?