Letting them decay would be beneficial to the soil which would in turn help the future plants thrive, burning them however is a bad idea because it releases greenhouse gasses
As the magma from the volcano rises up it begins to settle as crystals and causes the chemical compositions to change and the magma has less of magnesium and more of the silica contents.
A volcano that has more of silica oxide and a high temperature but low silica contents results in a more fluid or basaltic magma and a high content result in a viscous magma and they are of high explosive in nature like the Stromboli volcano and Mount Vesuvius.