You know, I think technically spells might have come first if magic goes back as far as it does. Magic might've been harnessed by the words and wands when they were first made but to start with it was probably totally different from how we learn magic today.

I've read that wordless magic is more advanced than anything we'd learn in school or in our lifetime but it's possible. I mean Mabel used to cause things to happen all the time before we got our letters. It might depend on the person though.