Question about "Match Total Exposure"

I have a series of images that were taken over a period of decreasing light conditions.  I was in manual mode and all settings are the same - only the ambient light changed.  I thought I could use Match Total Exposure to automatically adjust the esposure slider on the individual images to achieve a weighted match of the exposure of the 'most' selected image.  Is this not the case?  I am seeing some posts that indicate this might not be true. When I select the function, the progress bar indicates it is working, but nothing changes.

Thanks in advance for any insights!