I imagine they're intended to be used with calipers that have barrel adjusters on them.

These Shimano levers have a pretty nice understated look. If the barrel adjusters you bought fit them and are silver that would improve looks a bit. Strip the Shimano and polish them a bit and I bet they'd look really nice. Dunno if I'd be dedicated enough to do that though.

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=15692



(oops, looks like out of stock there....)