Hold a candle for someone

[Pepita]

Hi,

I am familiar with the phrase "can't hold a candle to someone" ,
but not sure, what it means if you do hold a candle for someone.

Could you please explain to me what it means in the following
context?

A man says to a woman:
"I did have a tiny crush on you once.
I might have held a little bit of a candle for you."

Thank you in advance!
Kind regards
Pepita

[Gillnetter]

Hi,

I am familiar with the phrase "can't hold a candle to someone" ,
but not sure, what it means if you do hold a candle for someone.
Can't hold a candle means that you do not compare to someone. The other person is better in some respect.
Could you please explain to me what it means in the following
context?

A man says to a woman:
"I did have a tiny crush on you once.
I might have held a little bit of a candle for you."
This means that the man held a small bit of a candle for the woman. This is not related to the saying above.
Thank you in advance!
Kind regards
Pepita

Gil

[SoothingDave]

Hold the torch - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com

"Holding a torch" for someone describes the unrequited crush.

[Pepita]

Thank you, Gillnetter & SoothingDave!

I did not think "can't hold a candle to someone"
and "hold a candle for someone" were really related,
but did not understand the latter.
Now with "hold the torch" it became very clear!
So it is the man's way of saying a bit ironically,
that he had had a tiny bit of an unrequited crush on the woman.
As he continued to say that the candle was the kind of tiny
birthday cake candle which come in a box of 12 of something like that.

Thanks a lot for you help
and all the best
Kind regards
Pepita