I don't think it was intentional, I think that most people just forget about silver weapons because they're not really necessary to kill the undead in this game =[
Says you, the silver sword i got from a Silverhand member dealt like 4X the damage of my steel sword to the Draugr. i was killing them in 2 swipes as to the 6-7 with my other sword.
Now at later levels your probably right.