While I don't know the official answer, I'll offer my opinion on how tonberries may offer a tribute to wisps.

I believe the link between Tonberry and wisps is due to the torches they carry. The torches they hold and the way they walk could easily be mistaken, in a lore sense, as floating wisps swaying by at night. That could lead to ghost stories and such of wisps flying by a small town ect.