The tree theorem for pairs (TT 2 2), first introduced by Chubb, Hirst, and McNicholl, asserts that given a finite coloring of pairs of comparable nodes in the full binary tree 2 <ω , there is a set of nodes isomorphic to 2 <ω which is homogeneous for the coloring. This is a generalization of the more familiar Ramsey's theorem for pairs (RT 2 2), which has been studied extensively in computability theory and reverse mathematics. We answer a longstanding open question about the strength of TT 2 2 , by showing that this principle does not imply the arithmetic comprehension axiom (ACA 0) over the base system, recursive comprehension axiom (RCA 0), of second-order arithmetic. In addition , we give a new and self-contained proof of a recent result of Patey that TT 2 2 is strictly stronger than RT 2 2. Combined, these results establish TT 2 2 as the first known example of a natural combinatorial principle to occupy the interval strictly between ACA 0 and RT 2 2. The proof of this fact uses an extension of the bushy tree forcing method, and develops new techniques for dealing with combinatorial statements formulated on trees, rather than on ω.