This is a recursive solution that I think is very easy to understand.
var tree = function(leafs) {
var branches = [];
if (leafs.length == 1) return leafs;
for (var k in leafs) {
var leaf = leafs[k];
tree(leafs.join('').replace(leaf, '').split('')).concat("").map(function(subtree) {
branches.push([leaf].concat(subtree));
});
}
return branches;
};
console.log(tree("abc".split('')).map(function(str) {
return str.join('')
}))