My reference to "death" is different from yours, and so the "context" is different. You mention a dying to sin, something elaborated on in Romans 6 (and other places). I'm referring to the warning of physical (as well as spiritual) death given in Genesis 2 (and later discussed in verses such as Romans 5:15).
Physical death did not exist prior to sin, according to Scripture. Death is a consequence of sin, not a tool that God used to develop humanity.
About your other comment, you're right -- salvation isn't the last bit irrelevant. In an evolutionary world, though, salvation is indeed a confused irrelevant muddle.
FWIW, I think of "evolution" as the gradual increase of genetic information and complexity over generations. There are obviously mutations and variety among species, but this is not evidence of a growth of genetic complexity.
Can you give me a verse or two in Gen 2 so I can look it up?
If you're talking about Gen 2:17, when God says Adam will surely die the moment he eats from the tree of good and evil, God couldn't possibly be referring to a literal death, because Adam doesn't literally die that moment. Indeed, later in the Bible people are referred to as descendants of Adam.