This is what I get from an otindex response for a tree that has no edge lengths:
...
"ot:branchLengthDescription": "",
"ot:branchLengthMode": "ot:undefined",
...
It seems like the tree might(?) have edge lengths, but the flavour has just not been specified. I was expecting something like "absent" or "NA" (although the former is more explicit, I think).