Attribute hovertext got added (first in #1523) for traces that support on-graph text. There are all the scatter* traces, pie and bar. Traces that support hover but do not support on-graph text currently use text to set the "hover" text. As @nicolaskruchten points out, this is a little confusing.
So, should we deprecate text (while renaming hovetext) in traces that do not support on-graph text?