@Peter, When you make a circle selection with the ellipse select tool.
Then Edit > to path
Type your text > in the layers window right click on the text layer > text along path.
The text looks like this.
So before I type my text I go to the Path Window > select the path circle and then
with the flip tool (path transform selected) flip the circle path vertical.
Type my text > text along path and this is the outcome.
Make a new layer, in the path window > select the text path and make it active (path to selection.) Fill the active path with the color (gradient) you want and deselect it.
Select the rotate tool in the toolbox, make sure you select the layer transform. And rotate the layer with the words on it to your liking.
This is the result.
Hope I made myself clear
Edit: I don't know whether the text always appears as in my first screenshot.
Maybe it's because my Gimp 2.10 wasn't saved in default settings.
But that's the way I solve this issue then.