As someone who did way better on his SAT Math than Verbal... language skills are important in programming. Every word in human languages has ambiguity, and the possible ways to express a single thought in a sentence are almost uncountable.

Similarly, in programming, there are many tools available, which can be combined in almost uncountable ways to get something done... then editing skills translate to refactoring skills.

It is important in both writing and programming to express thoughts in such a way as to help reduce ambiguity as much as possible for the reader. The person who reads your code will appreciate well written code that doesn't smell, as it will help her do her job.

Perhaps this also depends on the type of software being built. If you are solving complex problems with original solutions then math and problem solving might be very important, but if you are building more "mundane" software for lack of a better world, then readability and maintainability might be more important. And in my own biased opinion, those aspects might rely more on good language skills instead.