Odd time-signatures

[Peter Quarrell]

I just downloaded Lilypond in order to improve the printing of psalm chants in 
our church Sunday news sheet.  We use a psalm-chant system created by one of 
our congregation.  The normal chant covers 2 verses of the psalm, with 10 
crotchet beats per half verse.  The chant's 4 quarter-verses are therefore 
printed as 4 bars, each of 10 crotchet beats.  Each bar is a semibreve, 
followed by 2 crotchets, followed by another semibreve.

We don't actually want a time-signature in the output (because, like the 
traditional Anglican chant, timing doesn't mean anything when you are 
chanting), but that doesn't matter.  My problem is that I can't see how to get 
the output I want, with only 1 bar-line per 10-crotchet phrase.  Lilypond 
seems to reject a time-signature of 10/4.  Although it is an odd 
time-signature to want, it ought to be possible to implement it.  Why does it 
not work?  The best I have been able to get has been 6/4, and using PaintShop 
Pro to remove or shift the bar-lines has produced a messy result.

Best wishes

Peter Quarrell