Literal echelons?

Merriam-Webster and the OED list only figurative senses of the word echelon (i.e. military formations and organizational ranks). Would it be incorrect to use it in the literal sense of the French word from which it derives (échelon) to refer to a tier on a physical structure?

Gardens had been planted on the upper echelons of the hotel's exterior.

Solution 1:

You could use it in an intentionally literal sense, but it would be understood figuratively regardless. Few would consider it in its literal French sense. If you were to italicize it, you could signal that it was meant to be understood as a French word, and then those who speak French would code it that way, but most speakers of English would still think you meant it figuratively and were merely emphasizing the word for idiosyncratic reasons.