This is an example from my blog on Placing Texts on Arcs with D3.js that shows that a transition between similar paths (two arcs in this case) can be accomplished by the standard .transition().duration()
Another version shows how to transition between more complex paths
Other examples of text along a path from the same blog
https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/d3/3.5.6/d3.min.js