I asked Jon Frost about this.. he and a partner wrote the book on SVG - Learn SVG, you can find it at Learn SVG - The Web Graphics Standard : Tutorials, Maps, Books.

He writes: "Yes, I wrote chapter 5 of the Learn SVG book and it covers that sort of thing. Text and animations on a curving path - that should do it. I'll try to post something for this tonight/tomorrow."

So hopefully you will get an answer in a day or two.

Eric