The last link provided by Kev has the likely answer:
"The primary reason to burn off the extra fuel was that a heavier plane
has a faster landing speed. Since a slower airspeed on landing was the
objective in this case, the course of action was to lighten the load by
burning off some fuel and when landing, lower the nose gear at as slow
an airspeed as possible."

Joe,
You sound like an EXCELLENT advocate for having the ability to dump
fuel too!!!

-Robert