When I hear "old fashioned tree" it reminds me of the year I lived in Germany. Our German neighbors had real candles on their tree. I was astounded, because it's such a fire hazard. They have these little candle holders that clip to the branches and hold special little candles very securely. The trees there were thinner than you see here, so there were plenty of spots where you could clip a candle without lighting the branches above it on fire.
I just did
a quick Google image search and turned up this picture of a German tree with real candles. You can tell they are real flames, because they all point up, even when the candles are crooked. You'd think there would be more fires, but they don't leave the trees unattended.