Sounds like you are making progress!
To get the field label you will need the field object which is available via the GFAPI: https://docs.gravityforms.com/api-functions/#get-field e.g.
$field = GFAPI::get_field( $form, 17 );
$field_label = $field->label;
For choice based fields if you have the choice value and need the choice label you can get that via the field object e.g.
$choice_text = $field->get_value_export( $entry, $field_id, true );
It is the third argument of the fields get_value_export method above being set to true which causes the choice text to be returned.