Currently loading facet looks like this

and it is defined by

<rich:treeNode type="company"
<rich:treeNode type="company">
     <f:facet name="loading">
          <h:graphicImage value="/resources/images/loading.gif" />
     </f:facet>
     #{node.name}
</rich:treeNode>

But when I use another content in f:facet, it is no more usable

<f:facet name="loading">
     <h:outputText value="Loading..." />
</f:facet>

since it produces

I suggest to use @iconLoading (or @handleLoading) attribute for both rich:tree and rich:treeNode instead to define image for loading.

Facet loading can be useful, but should produce another type of output:

The output can then use more complex content like text "Loading 3 items...", progress bar, etc.