Oh please, don't use the can't-afford-samples argument. That's such a cop out. I use free sounds almost exclusively.
And my biggest problem was with your approach to the piece. I dislike it when people are so quick to write off certain kinds of music as "elevator music," especially bossa nova and certain kinds of smooth jazz. The ideas you have are good, but like I said before, don't pigeonhole yourself into vapidity just to fit some ill-defined concept like "elevator music." Expand, explore, and adapt. Good genre adaptations have always been welcomed at OCR.